All Is Relative Except the Stubbornness of a Demon
by Uncle Stojil
Summary: The Kyuubi doesn't want to die. He cannot even grasp the idea of himself dying. He's meant to be immortal and he has no intention whatsoever to go against his very nature. True, he's stuck inside Naruto, but the boy has absolutely no say in this matter.
1. Chapter 1 Genin Exam: Kick Their Ass!

Author's notes – I didn't know if posting this was a good idea. The first two chapters of this story were actually written before my other story on this site "He's Not Normal" even started. Since then, I managed to write three other chapters in two weeks, and then my inspiration went downhill. Three days ago, my Muse came back to me and helped me writing the sixth chapter of this story, so I decided to give it a chance after some editing. It has more or less the same starting point as my other story and it actually inspired it in some ways, but there are major differences between the two, the first one being the genre. While "He's Not Normal" is my attempt at writing a parody, with this one I'm trying a more serious approach, but not too much more serious. Hope you'll enjoy it, or better, them both.

Warning – I'm Italian and without a beta (a much needed beta I'm said and I happen to agree), so this story will probably be a big huge mistake from a grammatical and syntactical point of view. I hope it doesn't suck completely from other points of view as well. Anyways, consider yourselves warned. There will be many mistakes both in my attempt at writing in English and in Japanese (or at least those few Japanese words I will _have_ to use). You can point them out to me at your leisure. I'll do what I can.

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 1 – Genin Exam: Kick their ass!

I open my eyes at the sound of an alarm clock, a continuous chirping too loud for my ears. I shut off the infernal device and look around sleepily, lifting my head from the warm pillow. What I see is a messy old room with posters on the walls and battered-looking furniture scattered all around.

I groan.

"You did it again, bastard," I say and the only answer I receive is a soft cackle in my mind.

The bed creaks under my weight as I roll around and on my back, and stretch my limbs with a content sigh. I remain like that for a long minute, thinking about what happened and what will happen. Another sigh, this time of tiredness, escapes my lips.

The Fox meddled with my life – and death – again.

I stand up and walk swiftly to the calendar on the wall near the door. It's unnecessary, I know, but I have to. I look at it and follow the numbered days marked with a red 'X' until I find the first without one. There is a scribble instead that says: "First step to become Hokage – Genin Exam! Kick their ass!"

I can't help but chuckle a little despite having read it countless times. I step into the little kitchen and grab the first edible thing visible. Strangely enough, it's a cup of instant ramen.

I chuckle again. What a fanatic I was...

My loyal jumpsuit waits for me on a chair near the bed. It smells of wood and rain, and faintly of blood. I put it on anyway. My sense of smell is quite above average. I doubt someone could notice anything, with the exception of an Inuzuka, of course.

When my weapons are finally fastened to my belt and holsters, I climb out of the window and onto the roof of the building harboring my little apartment. Slowly gaining speed, I jump over the shop nearby, and then on the next, using tiny bursts of chakra under my feet.

The Hidden Village of the Leaf flies rapidly past me and I watch it with something akin to affection. Konoha is waking up under the early morning sun, and its people are already wandering around.

I jump from roof to roof with a smile on my face. It's good to be young again. No aches in my bones, no migraine and no omnipresent tiredness... I'm strong, full of energy, and for the first time in _this_ life, I completely understand and agree with all the babbling words of Maito Gai and Rock Lee about the 'Power of Youth'. I almost shout something on those lines as I land on a chimney and pump a grain of chakra in the muscles of my legs before jumping high in the sky and toward another building.

A knowing cackle resounds in my head and it's clearly contagious because I find myself laughing as well.

'_You're all talk,_' a derisive voice whispers in my mind.

'_Shut up, Fox. Don't ruin this peaceful moment for once,_' I say. '_One day you too will be tired of all this and you will let me rest._'

'_Brat,_' he answers and I roll my eyes at the inappropriate word, '_I'm meant to be immortal and that will not change. Now, be a good boy and start the carnage already._'

I snort. 'Brat' was already too much, but to call 'boy' someone who has lived for thousands and thousands of years is absolutely ridiculous. If he didn't travel back in time himself, then the Kyuubi would be younger than me.

'_The carnage, as you call it, will probably take years to start,_' I say with a touch of annoyance in my 'internal' voice. '_And I don't know if I'll take a part in it._'

I can see him grinning. '_You will._'

Ignoring an immature, yet immortal Demon Fox is always the best solution as I learned through the centuries, so I simply continue jumping over the streets of Konoha enjoying the sunlight and the breeze.

I wonder what will happen this time. What team will I be in? Who will be my teammates? Who my Sensei?

There's no real answer to that, I know. It could be everything, it _had been_ everything. If life taught me anything it's that it can always surprise you. Living thousands of years helps a little, sure, but it can't give you all the answers, fortunately. What a boring existence it would be if it wasn't like that!?

I can't help but be partially grateful to the Fox. If it hadn't been for his stubborn refuse of death, then I wouldn't have done, seen, learned, and loved many, many things. I would have died that long past day in my bed in the Hokage residence. At the time, I thought I had lived a long and full life. And it was true. I had. But all is relative except the stubbornness of a Demon – that is just too much from every possible point of view. The Kyuubi didn't accept death that day, and somehow – he never tells me how – he dragged our entwined souls back in time to my twelve-year-old body, nearly ninety years in the past. And a life followed another one, and another, and another, an uncountable number of times. And whenever that inescapable day had come, the day I was to die, the fox saved his very sorry ass and a less sorry mine to start over again.

I'm grateful, really, but every so often – that from my point of view means something like every third existence– I feel tired of it and just want to rest. To die, if you wish. My last life had been one of the happiest I remember, therefore I asked, threatened, begged the Kyuubi to let us die. You know when you say 'end with a bang'... sort of.

But here I am again, ready for another life I didn't want.

Keyword being 'didn't'.

Now... I don't know. Yesterday I was a wrinkled old man, weak and tired. Today I'm young, strong and feeling unstoppable. A new life of infinite possibilities stands before me, bright and full of promises. Why shouldn't I enjoy it? Now I'm here and it would be utterly stupid to waste this chance, whether I wanted it or not.

I let myself fall from the roof I was on and into the street, and begin walking calmly and confidently toward the not too far away Ninja Academy.

The first glare hits me when I turn the first corner – an old lady who narrows her hateful eyes from the front door of her shop. I look at her confused for a moment. Then I remember. Oh, yeah… I'm not Hokage anymore. At the moment I'm the demon brat who killed hundreds of Shinobi and villagers. I'm the cause of the death of the beloved Yondaime. And on top of that, I'm the prankster king Uzumaki Naruto. I have probably painted this woman's house orange or something not too long ago.

The glare doesn't hurt me anymore; it hasn't for many, many lives. I understand now how she feels, and despite knowing she is the one in the wrong, I don't really blame her. It's not her fault. It's no one's probably.

Passing by, I smile at her and bow a little. I register the surprise in her expression before I look in front of me again.

I encounter other villagers before reaching the Ninja Academy. Everyone of them glares at me and all they receive is a polite smile and a little bow. Their reactions are amusing in a way. They startle, tilt their heads and look at me funny. They probably think I'm up to something.

I snicker a little at that thought as I pass through the iron gates of the Academy. I'm fairly early for the exam, but there are other students already. It's an important day after all.

The day of the Genin Exam.

On my right, leaning on a tree, is Aburame Shino. As I approach him, I feel his gaze on me, concealed by his sunglasses.

"Hi Shino."

I greet him with a grin and a cheerful wave of the hand. We're good friends... in some lives. We've been teammates many times, but that doesn't say much considering I have been in a team with possibly every Konoha ninja, and not only those my age. Anyway, what matters is that we've been teammates in my last life. It's always the last life that matters – the last and the first… a little like sex. Anyway, before I woke up in this new existence, there passed no day during which someone didn't talk about the infamous Team 8 – Aburame, Hyuuga, Uzumaki.

"Uzumaki," he answers with a light nod of his head. I notice he's a little stiffer than usual – and you notice these little things after a lifetime or more as his best friend –, but I don't know if it's because of the approaching exam or because of my presence. I remember we never talked very much in the Academy years.

"How are you and your kikai bugs?" I ask peering behind the high collar of his jacket where the little insects usually concentrate when he isn't hiding them. Sure enough, some are buzzing there, flying in and out of the coat.

"We are ready to perform at nearly one hundred percent of our potential," he answers seriously and I grin at him.

"Perfect. Good luck with the exam then."

I walk off as he nods somewhat hesitantly, seemingly uncertain about where the loud boy known as Uzumaki Naruto has gone. I think he won't be the only one wondering about that.

I make my way to the actual entrance of the Academy where I spotted another very familiar face, one sporting a vertical red mark on every cheek. Inuzuka Kiba turns immediately toward me, a smirk playing on his lips. On top of his head, Akamaru barks once.

"Hey Naruto! Do you plan on failing for the third time straight?" the boy asks with little to no malice.

"Ah ah, very funny dog-boy," I reply with a smirk of my own. "Sorry to disappoint you, but today I'm here to kick everybody's ass!"

I chuckle at myself thinking that the twelve years old Naruto would have really said something like that… if a little louder. Both Kiba and Akamaru seem amused, I'm sure for different reasons than mine.

"And how will you do that? You won't even be able to kick the ass of one of your sick clones!" he exclaims much to the amusement of those within earshot. I remember that my pathetic-looking clones were quite famous during my Academy years, like a class joke or something. I also remember how even a humiliating thing like that made me feel somewhat acknowledged in a bittersweet way.

I just smile at him as he turns around when someone taps him on the shoulder. I'm rather eager to dispel my Kage Bunshin just to receive his memory of Kiba's shocked expression at the sight of my clone standing behind him with a large grin on his face. The Inuzuka actually freezes on his spot and I notice that other students are watching the scene in awe. I apparently didn't use any seal – and not just apparently –, my clone appeared out of thin air producing neither smoke nor sound, and he actually touched Kiba's shoulder proving his solidity and consequently his 'abnormality'.

"Not so sick after all, eh Kiba?" the Kage Bunshin says haughtily. "Now bend down a little so I can kick right where the sun doesn't shine."

The clone's speech seems to break the silence around us and someone starts snickering. I take a step forward and punch him on the head dispelling him.

"What a smug smart-ass," I complain with a disapproving frown as his memories pass to me. I smile widely at the image that flows in my mind of Kiba _and_ Akamaru utterly shocked and with their mouths hanging open.

"How did you do that?" asks the dog-boy recomposing himself.

"Well… first you lift your arm, then you close your hand in a fist and finally you bring it down-"

"Not that! How did you do a solid clone!" Kiba interrupts me annoyed, before murmuring under his breath… "Now who's the smart-ass?"

I smile a little.

"It's called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's a different jutsu than the one used to create a normal Bunshin and it actually requires different seals." I refrain from offering to teach him the advanced technique because I know he could not manage it with his low chakra reserves. I don't even think he would accept my help right now. Kiba is a rather proud person and on top of it, he's quite the stubborn one. Years and years of friendship taught me that. Well, not only that. More like a complete outline of his entire personality.

"I'm gonna enter and take my seat now. Good luck with your exam."

I don't give him time to answer as I run into the building and out of sight. I seem to remember the conversation I had with him, probably because it happened in some of my past lives. But I can't be sure. Living thousands and thousands of years, I tend to forget the little things.

The classroom is already half-full of students. I recognize most of them as future Shinobi of the Leaf. Those whose faces I don't remember had probably given up their ninja career or were killed by the time I became Hokage and ordered everybody around. Sure, I didn't always make Hokage in my past lives, but it happened so many times, I'm positive I know every possible man or woman who can become a Shinobi of Konoha.

"Hi everybody!" I shout drawing attention to me. The buzzing of the various conversations stops for a moment as I wave my hand in greeting, before all the students go back to what they were doing.

I make my way to the last row of seats in the back of the classroom. Hyuuga Hinata is already there, a pretty blush on her face as she pushes her forefingers together in a nervous gesture. Awww… How much cuter could she get?

I sit beside my many-times wife and mother of my children. Last time I saw her… it's not a particularly happy memory. Watching her die slowly and painfully in our bed had been bad. No wound, no blood… nothing visible. Just a quite normal disease affecting an old body too tired to defend itself. It's always much, much worse when it happens like that. The feeling of helplessness always seems stronger in those instances… sharper.

I watch her now, young and well… safe. I smile and bury those morbid thoughts under layers and layers of happy memories. It's easy. They are much more.

"Hey Hinata! How are you?" I refrain from adding _chan_ to her name, as I usually did in the vast majority of my past lives. She will have a hard time not passing out even without the familiar form of address.

Sure enough she ducks her head, her cheeks almost a shade of purple as she presses her forefingers even harder. "H-Hi N-Naruto. I-I'm fine, t-thank you," she stammers in a small voice before taking a deep shaking breath. "H-How are y-you?"

"I feel great!" I exclaim excited. I know she loves it when I act confidently. She feels confident herself when I do. "Today we'll show these weaklings how strong we are! Right Hinata?"

She blushes more if that was even possible, and I fear she won't resist much longer. Still, she nods energetically. "Yes!"

I smile at her, and she notices it when she darts her white eyes furtively over to my face. She seems to be almost transfixed for a moment, her mouth partly open in a dreamy expression, before she quickly lowers her gaze on her still pressing forefingers. I take the fact that she doesn't faint as a good sign. We're not at touching-level yet – she probably would die of a heart-attack if I put my hand on her shoulder – and we probably won't be for months, especially if we aren't in the same team.

Our conversation is interrupted when the bell begins ringing, warning all the students about the incoming start of the exam. After a couple of seconds, a stream of frantic hopeful ninjas crashes into the classroom, and after a little incident involving the two seats next to one Uchiha Sasuke, everybody seems ready, more or less.

Umino Iruka walks in with a block of sheets in his arms, followed by that fool of Mizuki who is smiling gently. Iruka has a blank expression on his face that when facing the class, turns into a serious one.

"Today is an important day of your life. I know every one of you has the potential to become a Shinobi of the Village of the Leaf," he says glancing around the room and fixing his gaze for an instant on me. I knew he would have done it. He always does. My reassuring, confident grin is all for him. "I want you to focus and give all yourselves during this exam. Make me proud."

That said, he throws all the sheets in his hands with very fast gestures and soon enough we all have one in front of us.

"The first part of the Genin Exam starts now. You have an hour."

I take the pen and whisper a quick "Good luck!" to Hinata who blushes furiously and whispers it back to me.

I don't even need to read the questions – I took this exam so many times I know it perfectly after all – but I'm very careful with my answers. I want to do neither too well nor too bad. After repeating the exam countless times, I found out that if I perform good enough to simply pass in the written part, then I can end up in almost every possible team with every possible Sensei. I like it when I cannot predict something.

When I finish to half-answer the questions, I notice Iruka-sensei is watching me with a frown.

I tilt my head to the side as if to ask 'What?', and he just moves his gaze on some other student. He knows me like nobody else at this point, and he probably thinks there is something different in me. What that is, I cannot tell.

When the bell rings again, I hand over my sheet and follow Mizuki out on the training ground for the taijutsu part of the exam. I grin a little. There's no reason to hold back here. Instead, there's a very good one to kick the blond bastard's ass.

I watch as the other students fight Mizuki under Iruka's intent gaze. I'm almost the last one alphabetically, followed only by Yamanaka Ino. Akamaru's bite on the Chuunin's left hand leaves me rolling on the grass and laughing my ass off.

It's good to be a kid again.

Kiba tosses me a smirk after the end of his match and I grin at him. He was the only one to score more than one blow on Mizuki, although technically it was Akamaru who hit the second time. Hinata almost managed it once, but in the end the Chuunin blocked the girl's strike. When is Sasuke's turn, the boy impresses both Senseis with a couple of good taijutsu moves and four scored blows.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka finally calls my name.

I make my way to the fighting circle and stand in front of Mizuki who repeats the rules of the match. I nod my way through the lectures and warnings with a grin on my face.

"Begin!" Iruka shouts.

I don't waste any time as I charge directly at him at high speed using my perfect chakra control on my legs and feet. When I reach the startled Chuunin, I duck swiftly to the right and throw a punch at him at rib level. He parries it and tries to hit me with his other hand, but I swat his blow aside as if it was a little fly and punch him in the gut. He is clearly surprised when I dismiss his strike that easily and he's not fast enough to avoid mine. He takes a step back in pain, but I grasp his right wrist and pull his larger body toward me. Jumping slightly, I kick his left shin hard, right as I punch him under the chin. His pitiful yelp as he's launched off his feet and then onto the ground is music to my ears.

It all took two seconds.

There's a shocked silence around us, only interrupted by a groan from Mizuki. I turn around and see everybody staring at me open-mouthed. I just grin at a stunned Iruka and show him the sign of victory. Finally, the scarred Chuunin recomposes himself and declares the end of the match before rushing to his fellow Sensei on the ground. As he helps him standing up, I notice everybody is giving me weird looks. I just shrug and approach the two men at the edge of the fighting circle. Mizuki seems still a little dazed by the blow under the chin.

"Mizuki-sensei, I'm sorry if I went too far," I say simply with a faked smile. Iruka shakes his head and a proud grin appears on his face.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Your attack was well within the rules. You did well."

I grin at him and bow a little before strolling back out of the circle. I see Ino staring at me like I sprouted a second head somewhere on my shoulder, and I make my way toward her.

"I injured his left shin," I murmur.

"What?"

"His left shin," I repeat. "It's injured. I thought you could use the information."

The pretty girl stares at me even more dumbfounded, but I don't pay her anymore attention and after a moment her name is called for the taijutsu match and she enters the circle glancing back at me once.

I see the two Senseis speaking to each other for a moment and Mizuki waving dismissively with his hand.

I grin. The bastard wants to play it down. Let's see how Ino will take advantage of it. She is usually good at it. When she sees a weakness, she attacks it. And I'm not just talking about a fight. Her view of our marriages was not that different. That's part of her charm.

"Begin!"

Ino shoots across the circle, blond hair swirling behind, and tries a couple of jabs against the Chuunin who blocks them easily and counters with a palm strike on her right shoulder. She dodges it and tries to kick him in the stomach, but Mizuki grabs the overextended limb and with a foot-sweep, knocks her other foot out from under her.

She falls on her left side as Mizuki frees her and slowly takes a step back, wincing almost imperceptibly.

It hurts, eh bastard?

The blond girl stands up, her blue eyes narrowed, apparently annoyed.

She attacks again with a combo of punches and kicks on the high section of Mizuki's body. The Chuunin blocks all the blows without moving from his spot and delivers another palm strike on her shoulder, hitting her and making the girl stagger back. With a snarl she charges again faster than before, but this time she aims a kick at his left injured leg. Mizuki cannot react fast enough to avoid it, and when her foot slams on it, he wobbles unsteadily hissing in pain.

Heartened by the little victory, Ino's fist shoots up and strikes the Chuunin's nose. Hard. The following snap of bone resounds across the silence of the training ground making more than one student wince, as Mizuki drops to the ground.

Ino jumps back, seemingly shocked at what she's done. I fight to contain the snicker that desperately tries to escape my mouth as everybody starts whispering about the exciting match and Ino's victory. This thing never happened in the past. I'm pretty sure I would remember it if little Ino kicked bastard Mizuki's ass. I'm chuckling openly now.

Meanwhile, said girl is apologizing profusely to both Senseis despite Iruka's clear smile showing his amusement at Mizuki's fate.

Soon enough the battered Chuunin is brought to the hospital by some Academy assistants. Now, after the usual bickering with Sakura about Sasuke, Ino is watching me red-faced but I don't understand if she is angry or embarrassed. I grin at her and then shrug it off, walking next to Kiba and following Iruka-sensei to where the weapon part of the exam will take place.

"You did good out there, Akamaru" I say talking with the little dog on the boy's head. "If only you had had a more useful partner…"

"Hey!" Kiba shouts indignant. "Didn't you see how I distracted Mizuki-sensei with my air-kick so that Akamaru could have an opening?" He assumes a haughty expression. "It's called teamwork, idiot."

"Oh, you did that on purpose? I thought you were just attacking randomly."

He blushes a little revealing that I hit home, at least partially. "Of course not! We had planned it all, right Akamaru?" The dog barks once a little hesitantly – or maybe that's just my impression – and Kiba steers the conversation on safer waters. "You weren't too shabby either," he concedes before smiling brightly. "And you _did_ kick his ass." He chuckles. "Did you hear the snap of his nose at Ino's punch?"

"How could I not?" I say laughing with him. "It was like when you break a twig in a forest at night. Nobody can miss it."

"Anyway, she would not have been able to do it if you hadn't dazed him like that," he continues playfully.

I frown. "Not really. Didn't you notice how much faster Ino was when Sensei pissed her off? She will be a good kunoichi, I tell you."

It's a little bit like cheating when I say these things. I _know_ she'll be a good kunoichi, I'm not simply predicting it. But, well… why should it matter?

Kiba just grunts, which in his language means, 'You're right, but I won't say it.'

I watch in front of me and see Sasuke a little on the right and Sakura orbiting annoyingly around him. Where in hell is Ino?

Uh oh.

I turn around slowly and sure enough she's right behind us, her face an angry red that shouts 'DANGER'. I nudge Kiba on the side and after a second of puzzlement, the boy looks past his shoulder and dog. I see him flinch out of the corner of my eye before giving all my attention to the mad blond now in front of me.

"Err-" it's all she lets me say before her hammer-fist drops on my head leaving me with my ass on the ground. "Oww…"

My whining doesn't seem to draw any sympathy, not from her who just huffs and walks away, nor from Kiba who roars in laughter with Akamaru. I rub the bump already forming on my head before taking Shino's offered hand and standing up.

"She could have hit you too, you know?" I snap at the still howling Inuzuka. "Maybe she's just waiting for a juicier opportunity." The malicious glint in my eyes effectively stops his laughter. "That's it! She wanted to hit you on the head but since Akamaru was there, she just postponed it. I wouldn't laugh that much if I were you."

Kiba gulps visibly patting his dog, grateful. He glances at the fading back of the dangerous blond. "Why did she react like that anyways? It's not like we were insulting her or anything!"

"Oh yeah… now that you are about to be kicked around like Mizuki, you defend me!" I grumble. "Anyways, she's a girl. Decades will pass before you'll understand girls," I say wisely, adding 'I still have problems!' to myself.

"Hmmm…" Kiba murmurs noncommittally. "Dogs are easier to understand."

"Of course," I agree. "I bet bugs too. Right Shino?"

The boy nods without hesitation. "Definitely."

I grin at him and at his stoic mask.

"Let's go," I say. "There's an Aburame here, and I seem to remember there's not much before 'A' and 'B' in the alphabet."

Kiba barks a laugh and we make our way to Iruka-sensei who stands in front of various targets.

"Aburame Shino," he calls immediately.

The quiet boy steps up and, after a brief explanation on the Chuunin's part, starts throwing his shuriken, then his kunai. Shino is strong and precise, if a little slow maybe. When he starts decapitating dummies with swords and axes, Kiba expresses his judgment.

"Impressive. But I'm better."

I just snort.

When he finally ends, Shino bows to Iruka and comes back toward us. I can see a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. I don't know how he can stay with that coat of his all the time.

"How do you assess your performance in the art of the ninja weapons which Iruka-sensei bestowed upon you?" I ask with a blank face. Shino's only reaction is that to show his eyebrows over the glasses. Kiba chuckles and I join him after a couple of seconds, but the Aburame seems annoyed, judging by how set his jaw and stiff his shoulders are. I'm sure I'm the only one who could have noticed it except maybe his clan and some quite expert Jounins. "Oh, come on Shino!" I say. "We're not laughing at you. We're laughing _with_ you."

He relaxes visibly, but I guess it was too much expecting that he really laughed with us. Or even smiled.

"Really?" Kiba asks me grinning. "I'm pretty sure I was laughing _at_ him."

I smack the Inuzuka on the back of his head, avoiding Akamuaru, but both boy and dog growl at me. I should let them hear one of my prisoner's growls. _That_ is the real thing.

We watch as the next student throws his shuriken and kunai. Akimichi Chouji is far from good with long range weapons, or better, with long range attacks. He hit the target only twice in twenty throws! Maybe it's because of his clan that uses mainly physical jutsus, but he clearly didn't spend much time training with shuriken and kunai. It almost seems like nobody ever gave him pointers in order to improve his visibly wrong technique. He's okay with close-range weapons though.

When the round boy passes by me after completing his exam, I call his name and stop him short.

"May I give you an advice?"

"About what?" he asks a little on the defensive side.

"Your technique with shuriken and kunai. Here…" I produce one of the latter from my holster and show him my stance. "See? You put your weight in the wrong side of your body. When you throw a kunai, you are like this." I change stance in an approximation of the one he used. "You are unbalanced and use much more energy than necessary." I give him my kunai, create a Kage Bunshin at more or less the same distance of some of the targets we are required to hit in the exam, and correct his form. In all this, Chouji seems completely dumbfounded, following my directions passively.

"Throw it against my Bunshin now," I say, gently patting his back.

He shuffles his feet slightly, licks his lips and narrows his eyes in a determined fashion. When he throws the kunai, it flies toward my clone with way more speed and accuracy than he ever managed before. The Kage Bunshin sidesteps it and shouts an approving, "Yay!"

"Oh," Chouji whispers almost awed.

"That's better," I concede before producing a shuriken. "Again."

We spend the next fifteen minutes like that. I give the round boy some more pointers but generally I let him become acquainted with this new form. He's still sloppy as hell, and with all the strength he has, his weapons could fly much faster, but he's definitely better now. We draw a lot of attention during this lesson of sort, and when we stop to watch Kiba's turn, there's a small crowd gathered around us.

The Inuzuka boy wasn't bragging when he said he was better than Shino, and the little smirk playing on his lips when he comes back is directed as much at me as at the bug user. I shake my head amused as my clone carries back all the kunai and shuriken Chouji used. The Akimichi watches him open-mouthed together with many of the students nearby.

I sigh. "He's a Kage Bunshin. And yes, he's solid."

I place my weapons in their proper holsters and then dispel him, continuing to watch the exam.

As expected, Sasuke displays the best technique and scores, and oddly enough, he stops sulking for a moment to smirk at me. I almost laugh out loud at that. Instead, I simply grin and reach Iruka-sensei when he calls my name.

When the last dummy is beheaded, I lay down the axe and walk back to the circle of students. I see Sasuke and toss his smirk back at him with great pleasure. I got the highest score possible with a perfect performance. Take that, _dobe_!

When Ino passes by to take her exam, I smile at her a little.

"Good luck," I whisper before joining Kiba, Shino and Chouji again.

The round boy is already crunching his chips and Shino is his usual expressionless self. Kiba instead is watching me suspiciously.

"Are you really Naruto?" he asks me.

"No, I'm the Hokage under disguise." I snort because in a way I really am.

"Really, you can't be the dead last," he insists.

"Oy! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha! This exam to become Genin is _nothing_! I'll show you all what the strongest ninja in the Village looks like!"

I almost ruin my great impersonation of my younger-self by bursting out laughing. I'm loving every minute of it. I was such an idiot at this age.

"Yeah, yeah…" Kiba says waving his hand dismissively. Apparently the usual bragging from my part is proof enough of my real identity. "We know, we know."

Now I _have_ to grin like a maniac. Just a few students around us are watching me like I am nuts. I can see some awestruck faces already. I didn't remember it took so little to be taken seriously.

The weapon part of Ino's exam is not very good. With long-range weapons, she's roughly at Chouji's current level – that means barely decent for a Genin – and with swords and axes she's actually worse. When Iruka-sensei stops her, she seems upset, but there's nothing she can do.

We go back to the classroom for the last part of the exam that will start in half an hour, and I find myself seated beside Shikamaru and Sasuke. The Uchiha shoots me an annoyed glare before continuing to brood as always. The other boy instead starts a conversation with me.

"Hey Naruto, you were pretty good out there," he compliments me. He seems bored out of his mind with his feet on the desk and his head lolled in my direction.

"Thank you. You were good enough and we both know that was what you aimed for," I reply with a smile.

He schools his features almost immediately in a blank expression but I'm far too experienced. "What do you mean?" he asks feigning bored confusion.

I only lift my eyebrows and keep on looking at him. He stays still for a couple of seconds before sighing and waving his hand once. "Whatever."

"Naruto!" someone shouts. I turn around only to see an angry looking Haruno Sakura with her forefinger pointed at me. "Move your ass and leave me your seat!"

I mirror the Nara boy's expression, feigning confusion. "Why Sakura-chan?"

"Because I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun, that's why!" She puts her hands on her hips in a menacing way. "And don't call me Sakura-chan!"

"Okay," I say. "If you want to sit where I am, then you have to do something to prove yourself."

She hesitates seeing my wide grin. "I don't have to prove myself to you, idiot!" she yells.

"Oh, but it's not to me you'll prove yourself to!" I exclaim.

"And to whom then?" she asks harshly but I just smile sweetly.

"But to Sasuke-kun, of course!"

My sentence causes several reactions. The dark-haired boy on my right snaps his head in my direction with a death glare, the pink-haired girl stops for a moment before blushing embarrassed, and a deep silence descends in the classroom.

"Okay," then Sakura says half determinate, half self-conscious.

"What are you up to, dobe?" Sasuke growls in a low voice, but I ignore him completely and instead address the girl in front of me.

"Good. In order to sit here," I say pointing my finger down and taking a small pause to double the suspense, "you have to get Shino say the word 'cute'."

"WHAT!?" a familiar voice yells from the back of the classroom. Everybody turns toward it and there stands none other than Shino. I almost laugh, seeing his startled expression as he hurries to regain his stoic facade. Apparently, Kiba doesn't have a will as strong as mine, because he starts howling in laughter at the strong reaction of the usually composed bug user. Of course, the dog-boy probably didn't have the littlest intention of refrain from laughing.

Sakura seems thoughtful when I refocus my attention on her. Then she slams her fist in the palm and stalks toward Shino.

Aww… Shino is no fun, I always told him. He's already behind me with a hand on my shoulder. The hand is clasped a little more tightly than necessary too.

"Naruto," he says, the littlest note of apprehension in his voice as he looks at a slowly advancing Sakura. The girl is kicking aside whoever stands or sits on her path. "I would appreciate if you stopped this foolishness now."

I smile at him.

"Say 'cute' then."

He clenches his jaw tightly and if I didn't know better, I would almost think he's gritting his teeth. His hand starts squeezing way too much. "That won't happen."

I glance at Sakura and her fanatic expression, and Shino is forced to mirror me. I see his eyes widen a little behind those sunglasses of his.

"It's just a little word," I say, my voice trembling with barely repressed laughter. "You can even whisper it to me and no one will be any the wiser. Just once."

He takes a quick look at Sakura again. She's just six seats away and you can see her lips moving as if rehearsing a speech or something. The crazy glint in her eyes is still there. Suddenly, the hand on my shoulder shakes a little as Shino takes a deep breath. He then ducks his head and murmurs in a low whisper.

"Cute."

That finally makes me crack. I burst out laughing, hard, slamming a fist on the desk and using the other hand to hold my stomach. The bug boy murmurs something else, probably a curse, and that makes it even harder for me to stop. There's something absolutely hilarious about the granitic and stern Aburame Shino saying a word like 'cute'. I never ever heard him say that word, and I've known him for centuries!

Anyways, these little things are what really make it worth. Living again and again, I mean. No matter how sure you are to have experienced everything, there's always something new, something surprising.

Life is good.

But I should have made Shino say 'cutie', I think. Maybe next time…

Sakura is now upon us and that is enough that my instincts of self-preservation kick in.

"Sakura! Sakura!" I say between chuckles. The girl stops and looks at me, her arms lifted to grasp Shino in order to do who knows what. "That's enough. You can sit here."

I stand up listening to a chorus of _aww_.

"Sorry guys," I say chuckling. "The show ends here."

Sakura all but shoves me aside, beginning to pester Sasuke. The Uchiha boy sends me another death glare before rolling his eyes at the girl. I smirk at him and at an amused looking Shikamaru before following Shino. The bug user regards me apparently annoyed but I just shrug, smiling.

"It was fun."

He concedes my point by rolling his eyes, which for him is like laughing his ass off. He takes his seat again and I scan the classroom to find an empty place. I spot it in the first row and I start walking. On my way there, I receive a grin with thumbs up from Kiba and a death glare from a red-faced Ino. Finally sitting down, I put my hands behind my head and relax a little.

After a while, Iruka comes back from the next room and explains the last part of the Genin Exam. As always, we are to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu. Shino is the first to enter and after a couple of minutes, he's sporting his Leaf head-protector.

"Way to go, Shino!" I congratulate him.

With both hands in his coat's pocket he returns to his seat, expressionless as always… almost always. When Hinata's turn comes, she walks shakily in the other room. The last thing I see is her pretty blush after she glances at me only to find a large smile and two thumbs up. When she exits with the hitai-ite in her hands, I whoop once raising my fist in the air, barely restraining myself from jumping over the desk and crushing her in a hug.

"Great Hinata! You're a Genin!" I shout happily and she ducks her head blushing furiously and smiling a little.

Everything else happens more or less as always. There has never been a big change in the first day of my countless lives, except those lives in which I went nuts and destroyed everything or simply started a long training trip. Anyways, when Iruka calls my name, I confidently enter the exam room. There are three Shinobis at the desk in front of me. Mizuki is noticeably absent – maybe still in the hospital although I doubt it –, and in his place there are two younger Chuunins who seem vaguely familiar . Their gazes are hard, but not hateful. They probably don't know that Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed inside of me, but they too are touched like everybody else by the stain of that secret.

"Well Naruto, this is the last portion of the exam," Iruka says smiling. "I want you to create three effective Bunshins in the next twenty seconds."

I nod at him as I ponder the idea of creating them without seal, smoke and poof. To show off or not to show off: that is the question. In the end, I simply do what they expect me to do and end it there. Still, the smoke my three Bunshins produce is not much and I can clearly see that impresses them. The one on the right scribbles something down on a sheet of sort as Iruka-sensei stands up and inspects my clones very attentively. He then takes one of the Leaf head-protectors on the table and offers it to me with a smile.

"You pass."

I grin widely at him and bow a little, accepting the symbol of my old/new status of Genin.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei."

"You're welcome."

I dispel my clones and exit the room with him so he can call the last student and be done with it.

"Yamanaka Ino."

I receive more smiles than I expected as I return to my seat. Passing by a nervous looking Ino, I wink at her playfully before sitting down. When I lift my gaze again, she's already rushed into the exam room, leaving a puzzled Iruka behind. Am I annoying her too much now?

I smirk at Kiba who smirks back at me. He's in the other side of the room but he sees it clearly when I mouth the words 'Mine is better,' pointing at my Leaf hitai-ite. He snorts visibly and starts polishing his, mocking me.

Ino comes back from the exam room with her new head-protector and a huge smile. She walks right toward Sasuke and Sakura and starts fawning over the boy. Iruka enters a couple of minutes later.

"I once again congratulate those of you who became Genins. You are now real ninjas but you have a long path before you. The hard part of being a Shinobi has just started," the scarred Chuunin says seriously, watching us in the eye. "To those who didn't pass the exam, I just want to say to work hard for your next chance. I'll see you back in a month when the new term starts. With the Genins instead, we'll see each other tomorrow for your team assignment. Don't be late."

That said, he exits the classroom leaving us to our cheering and sulking. After a little of Shino-teasing and Hinata-embarrassing, I'm making my way to the ramen stand, Ichiraku. Man, how I missed that place… Don't misunderstand me. I grew past my obsession over ramen, although I still appreciate a good cup. But Ichiraku's stand means more to me than just a good eating place. I practically lived there in my _first_ childhood. The old man was almost a father-like figure when I _really_ was all alone.

I walk through the streets of Konoha trading a smile for every glare, a bow for every sneer. In some of my past lives, I would have stood up to them. In others I would have killed those who dared to look at me funny. I had my moments of anger and rage, but I like to think that I had somewhat earned them. Plus, they didn't happen very often and not recently anyways.

The delicious smell of ramen fills my nostrils as I reach the stand and sit on a stool. My mouth waters more than ever, but I somehow manage to shout without spitting everywhere.

"Oy, old man! One bowl of miso ramen for your favorite Genin. Today we've got to celebrate!"

Ichiraku's head appears from the back of the bar and eyes my head-protector with something akin to pride.

"Naruto! I knew you would have done it!" he exclaims smiling. "Miso ramen coming up in a minute and it's on the house today."

"Thank you Ichiraku-san!" I shout jovially.

"Ayame!"

"What?" asks tiredly the old man's daughter, entering the kitchen from somewhere behind the stand.

"Come here. Take a look at our customer."

She scans curiously the almost empty stools and sees me on the left one. It takes a minute for her to notice the hitai-ite on my head, but when she does, her hazel eyes start sparkling beautifully.

"You did it!" she squeaks.

"Yep," I answer scratching the back of my head in a gesture I still use sometimes.

"Oh but we have to celebrate then! Your first bowl is on the house today."

I laugh. "You're late for that. That was already settled."

"The second bowl then!" she insists firmly and I grin at her.

"Okay."

Thirty minutes and a ton of noodles later, I thank Ichiraku and Ayame, and start wandering through the streets of Konoha. There are a couple of things I have to buy, so I go back to my apartment, take my savings and use Henge no Jutsu to change my appearance in a less recognizable brown-haired boy. Let's just say it'll make things easier.

After an hour of shopping, I finally own some no-orange clothes, more and better weapons and more importantly, a complete set of chakra adjusting training weights. I put them on as soon as I get into the woods near the east-gate, adjusting them in order to make them trying but not unbearable. A perfect taijutsu, even in more than one style, can only help to a certain extent if your body isn't up to your opponent's level. It will be months before I gain the best muscular build I can get at this age, but in the meantime I will make up for it with my knowledge, experience and chakra control.

Once settled, I take a quick jog to get used to my new weight and then start training a little harder just for the fun of it. When I finally feel physically exhausted, the sky is dark above me and Konoha is lit up beautifully. I watch the Village from a bare rock near the training grounds as my breathing slows down and my skin cools under a gentle breeze.

Just one more thing and then I can go back home for a night of well deserved rest. I silently stand up from my seated position and steer once again in the dark woods. I find a small clearing and halt there, closing my eyes. The sound of my slow intakes of breath helps me relaxing and concentrating in an exercise I've done infinite times in the past. I don't even have to say anything to the Demon Fox. When he senses I'm ready, he starts pouring a tiny amount of his chakra through the Yondaime's seal and into me. It's a tiny amount… for him. However it's more than most Jounins will ever have. I feel myself wrapped in this red aura, an intoxicating, unstoppable wave of power fueling my body and inflaming it. I feel my chakra coils enlarge even if microscopically.

Then, with a last pulse, it all ends.

I take a deep calming breath as the Fox's laughter resounds in my head. He loves this thing every time we do it. What an ass…

I open my eyes and blink a couple of times to clear my vision, before I start running toward my apartment and a cold shower. The moonlight shines over the narrow path giving everything a translucent quality. Jumping out of the woods and onto the first house roof visible, I can't help but feel excited about tomorrow and the team I will be assigned to.

Author's notes – You all probably read at some point a Naruto story where the Kyuubi takes the blond back in time when the loud ninja is about to die. But what about the next time Naruto is a step away from death? I always wondered about it and the most plausible conclusion I reached was that the Demon Fox would do it again and again, if that was in his possibilities. This story takes origin from these thoughts. It will be a story with a powerful and wise Naruto who is close to be immortal without effectively being one.


	2. Chapter 2 – Introductions

Author's notes – I didn't know if posting this was a good idea. The first two chapters of this story were actually written before my other story on this site "He's Not Normal" even started. Since then, I managed to write three other chapters in two weeks, and then my inspiration went downhill. Three days ago, my Muse came back to me and helped me writing the sixth chapter of this story, so I decided to give it a chance after some editing. It has more or less the same starting point as my other story and it actually inspired it in some ways, but there are major differences between the two, the first one being the genre. While "He's Not Normal" is my attempt at writing a parody, with this one I'm trying a more serious approach, but not too much more serious. Hope you'll enjoy it, or better, them both.

Warning – I'm Italian and without a beta (a much needed beta I'm said and I happen to agree), so this story will probably be a big huge mistake from a grammatical and syntactical point of view. I hope it doesn't suck completely from other points of view as well. Anyways, consider yourselves warned. There will be many mistakes both in my attempt at writing in English and in Japanese (or at least those few Japanese words I will _have_ to use). You can point them out to me at your leisure. I'll do what I can.

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 2 – Introductions

I reach the Ninja Academy with roughly five minutes to spare on the clock, but I'm not surprised to be the last Genin to arrive. Not at all. I remember clearly how in my _first_ life, I was practically the personification of excitement - and of smugness - the day of the Teams assignment.

There are many empty seats because of our low number, and after a quick scan of the classroom and an encouraging smile to Hinata, I start toward Shino, greeting him friendly with a wave of my hand. A few Genins look at my new clothes with a weird expression. Well, I guess a Naruto dressed in blue can be quite shocking after years and years of just orange.

I sit beside the bug user and notice that he's stiffer than ever. Not only that. The general atmosphere permeating the room seems charged with tension. Many students are chatting, seemingly relaxed, but my millenarian experience in talking, working, and in general living with the vast majority of them, helps me to notice the anxiousness hidden behind those words and chuckles. I, instead, couldn't be nervous even if I tried. I experienced this day too many times to feel troubled by it.

A few minutes pass before Iruka-sensei enters the room, effectively silencing the constant buzzing you can always hear slithering through a class full of anxious students. The fact that these students just became ninjas doesn't matter at all. The Chuunin enters alone and I find myself grinning, reasonably certain that Mizuki got himself in trouble trying to steal the forbidden scroll in the Hokage Tower. After all, the bastard got what he deserved in everyone of my past lives. That is to say that when he was lucky he ended up in prison after getting soundly beaten up by some Jounins or sometimes by the Hokage himself.

Iruka's starting speech is always the same. I could probably recite it with him. I'm sure he uses it for every group of freshly made Genins. I listen with half an ear as I let my eyes wander and search my possible teammates. I wouldn't mind at all if I ended up in the same team as Hinata – the memories of my last life during which we were happily married are still fresh in my mind –, but considering I had love relationships with every girl in this room – and more than once –, I think I can honestly say I have no real preferences.

When I finally reconnect my ears to my brain, Iruka-sensei is reading the members of Team 7 already. Oops… If they put me in one of the previous groups, I'll have to ask someone and probably make an idiot of myself. Good start, Naruto!

"…Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Akimichi Chouji."

I think about the potential of these three Genins working together while Sakura cheers like she just won the lottery. It's a good Team. I remember they were known as 'The Tank Team' some lives ago, and I think there's no need to explain exactly why. The attacking power is definitely remarkable and if the pink-haired girl becomes a medical ninja specialist as often happens, then all their possible risks would decrease considerably making them a very powerful offensive Team. Of course, there's the some-times traitor Sasuke to take into consideration, but I think I got the hang of avoiding that, after thousands of years of experience.

"Next, Team 8…" Iruka resumes. "Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba."

I glance in Hinata's direction. The girl seems disappointed, probably because we're not together. Her eyes are downcast and her forefingers pressed together in that very familiar gesture. She should be happy. Her Team is great and very balanced. It will mainly be a reconnaissance group considering the girl's eyes, Kiba's and Akamaru's nose and ears, and Shino's bugs, but the Team will be far from weak offensively. The techniques of the Inuzuka clan are one of the strongest in the Village, the Hyuuga's Jyuuken is deadly in close combat and just one bugs' swarm of an expert and prepared Aburame can suck you dry of chakra, devour one of your limbs or poison your body in a few seconds. Not bad at all.

There are only twelve Genins left, that is to say four Teams. Iruka doesn't call my name in the ninth group either, but before reading the next one, I notice him glancing quickly at me. Here I come.

"And now, Team 10. Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Naruto."

I frown a little. This is almost new. It didn't happen very often in the past and I should be happy just for that. And I am. The thing is I'm not sure my two teammates will be as well.

I move my gaze on them. Shikamaru doesn't seem very interested, like always. Ino is completely still, unnaturally stiff. I would have expected some whining from her, an explosion even. Nothing, instead. Not a word, not a sound, not a gesture. Shikamaru too seems surprised, at least judging by how he's looking at her with his brows furrowed. We exchange an interrogative glance before shrugging at the same time.

When all the Genins are finally assigned to a Team, Iruka explains us that our new Senseis will get here in the afternoon and that for now we're free to go out and do whatever we want. Ino practically bolts out of the classroom, disappearing in an instant. I approach the Nara boy and follow him out at a slower pace. On the Academy ground there's no trace of the pretty girl, but Shikamaru doesn't appear bothered. The lazy boy makes his way to a grassy mound and lays there on his back. I watch him for a second before sitting next to him.

We remain like that, in silence, for some minutes, he with his hands under his head observing the clouds passing by. I start playing with some blades of grass, making one of them float just by using my chakra in one of the basic exercises to control its flow. Not that I'd need it. Millennia of practice made my technique absolutely perfect. I'm not bragging when I say there's no one in the whole world with a better chakra control than me.

Slowly I add another blade of grass to the first, then another, and another, and I make them float without difficulty, everyone in a different direction. It's relaxing. The exercise doesn't require much attention from my part, and I can let my mind wander without purpose. I know Shikamaru is watching me very intently while trying not to show it, but it doesn't matter. I won't be able to hide my real skills from my very Team, at least not all my skills.

I remember all those times I have been Ino's and Shikamaru's teammate, all those strategies we used and the role every one of us had. When my mind comes back on Earth and my eyes move away from the clouds the Nara boy seems to love so much, I find myself with something very similar to an incomplete Rasengan levitating over the flat of my hand. The only difference is that it is made of blades of grass. It has been absolutely unintended, something dictated by my subconscious.

I chuckle a little as I let the whirling mass disperse. With a sigh, I stand up smiling like the idiot I am.

"I'm starving," I say. "I'm gonna buy some ramen. Do you want anything?"

Shikamaru just shakes his head, still lying in his comfortable position.

"Okay. See you soon, then."

I dust my new blue clothes a little as I make my way to the exit of the Academy, feeling Shikamaru's gaze on me all the time.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Move your ass, Shikamaru! Hurry up!"

I hear Ino's shouts, her piercing voice weak from the distance. I start toward it calmly. My stomach is full and I feel very energetic, despite I doubled with some of my chakra the weights I bought yesterday.

I run swiftly and silently from branch to branch, on the trees surrounding the training ground of the Academy. My teammates are now visible in front of me, Shikamaru in the exact same position I left him before going to eat an hour ago. Ino is standing a couple of meters beside him, the hands on her sides in a menacing pose. The girl is already maturing physically. I can clearly see some round areas that I know will put to the test my hormones of teenager.

I'm about to jump down and in front of them when a question from Shikamaru stops me.

"What do you think of our Team, Ino?"

I crouch on my branch and closer to the tree-trunk to take advantage of its shadows. There is something incredibly exciting about listening to someone talking freely about you without the littlest suspect of your presence. Oh, I have no doubt that what Shikamaru really wanted to ask was, 'What do you think of Uzumaki Naruto, Ino?'

The pretty girl frowns a little. "I think I should have been in the same Team as Sasuke-kun!" she whines with a childish voice. When she notices Shikamaru's serious and mildly annoyed expression, the kunoichi waves a fist in front of her face. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Sasuke-kun! If he was in this Team in your place, or in that loser Naruto's, then we would definitely be the strongest." The Yamanaka girl pauses for an instant before continuing with a dreamy expression, "Not to say, the prettiest…"

The Nara boy snorts derisively, making it harder for me not to mirror him. I somehow manage it and he's the only one to receive Ino's death glare.

"And yet, Naruto got one of the highest scores in the exam, and if it hadn't been for the written part, he would have been on top of everyone," says Shikamaru with his usual bored tone, certainly false in this occasion like in many others. "And he _really_ helped Chouji with his throwing technique of kunai and shuriken. You did see it as well, didn't you, Ino? Did you see how much Chouji improved in only twenty minutes?"

"He just got lucky during the exam," Ino answers shrugging. "And about Chouji… I guess no one can be completely incompetent in everything. Maybe Naruto is passable with throwing weapons."

"Passable?" I see Shikamaru lifting an eyebrow. "He got the highest score possible. Your Sasuke-kun didn't even get near him."

Now Ino is just mad. I'll have to remember not to say anything bad about Sasuke in front of her, at least not before a while. The girl doesn't seem intentioned to concede the point. "We're talking about Naruto here! The dead last, the idiot, the loser Naruto!" she shouts and I almost burst out laughing from my position above her while the Kyuubi growls inside my head.

"_Even after all this time together,_" he tells me,_ "I don't understand how you can let these brats talk about you like that._" I just smile knowingly at that. He would probably prefer if I just went around beating to a pulp whoever looked at me funny. _"I liked it more when you where a murderous bastard…_" he adds after a while confirming my thoughts.

I shush him mentally. The show is about to finish but I have to find the right moment to make my appearance.

"I repeat it; yesterday probably had been his lucky day. Very lucky," Ino almost shouts.

I decide to jump on the stage at this point. I could wait probably the perfect moment, but now it will make an impression as well. I drop from the branch landing a few steps away from my two teammates. My grin threatens to morph into full laughter, but if I start now, I'm not sure I'll be able to stop.

When I make my appearance, Ino stops completely. A marble statue would have seemed more alive than her. Shikamaru wears a surprised but mostly annoyed expression. If that is because he didn't notice my presence or because I was eavesdropping, I don't know.

"How long did you listen, Naruto?"

"Long enough," I reply amused. Ino is still frozen on her spot. When I meet her shocked blue eyes fixed on me, the young Yamanaka looks down and blushes furiously. That little reaction seems to free her from her stillness and the girl brings her hands to the hair and hides some curls behind her ears in a self-conscious gesture.

"We should go, I think," I say after a couple of seconds of silence, pointing at the Academy building. "Our new Senseis will get here soon."

Shikamaru nods and together we start toward the entrance.

"Naruto…" Ino calls me with an uncertain voice.

Turning back toward her with a grin, I find her with her eyes still downcast and a blush on her face.

"Don't worry Ino, it's okay," I tell her but seeing her unconvinced expression I continue. "Really. I'm not offended because I _know_ you're wrong about me." My grin widens even more. "It's like if someone called you ugly. You could not even believe it, because you know you are a very pretty girl."

Satisfied by my successful compliment, at least judging by the doubled blush of her cheeks, I start walking again toward the Academy, hearing Ino murmuring something that for all I know could be 'Thanks' as much as 'Idiot.'

Behind me, Shikamaru sighs.

"Troublesome."

Once into the classroom, we see that about half of the Genins are still missing. I approach the current Team 8 noticing that the two ninjas behind don't follow me. I pat Shino on the back to attract his attention. If I had done that to Hinata, I would have literally knocked her out.

"Oy, guys! What's up?"

It's Kiba who answers me with a smirk. "Nothing much. We're just waiting. And you? What are you doing here? Did your Team kick you out already?"

I shrug. "Something like that," I reply honestly taking the young Inuzuka by surprise.

"Really?"

"Nah. Not exactly." I decide to change the subject. "I think yours is the best Team. Mainly reconnaissance, but not bad in a fight either." I wink at Hinata and she blushes more than ever. If she doesn't quit with pressing her forefingers together, then she will have to pick them up from the pavement.

"What point did Iruka-sensei emphasize to us? The importance of avoiding one-dimensional Teams to favor instead those well-balanced in the multiplicity of their members." Shino agrees with me in his own way.

I try to mimic his stern voice and stiff posture when I answer back. "That is to prevent an enemy from taking advantage of an evident weakness, one intrinsic in a too specified Team." I lift my hand and adjust a pair of invisible sunglasses on my nose.

Kiba barks a laugh and even Hinata doesn't contain a little giggle. Shino really does adjust his sunglasses and looks at me with both eyebrows visible above them.

"Precisely."

I just grin friendly at him.

We talk a little more and when I approach my Team again, I find it near Team 7. Ino, quite obviously, is orbiting around an expressionless Sasuke and is arguing with an annoyed Sakura, while Shikamaru is listening to Chouji with apparently little interest.

When I reach them, the Uchiha boy looks at me with a serious and vaguely menacing expression. If I didn't know I could beat the crap out of him without even using my hands, then I could be worried. Maybe.

"Follow me outside, Dobe."

Sasuke turns around without waiting for my answer and disappears from sight beyond the doors of the Academy. My only reaction is that to lift my eyebrows and look at the others interrogatively. Receiving only confused and, in Shikamaru's case, bored expressions, I just shrug and follow him out of the classroom.

The dark-haired boy is standing into the fighting circle where yesterday the taijutsu part of the exam took place. It's clear what he wants is. I walk forward stopping one step out of the circle. The other members of our Teams followed us, and not just them.

"Fight against me," Sasuke says.

I sigh tiredly. If I hadn't already seen this scene countless of times, I could even have been amused. "Why?"

"Because I want to." Good answer. It fits a spoiled brat.

"Ah," I say simply as if he had been exhaustive.

"Step in the circle," he… threatens me? Yes, that was a threat.

I feel something rising inside me. I'm craving to take Sasuke and slam him on the ground. To hit him on his head until that little brain he still has starts working properly again. To shout in his face that he can't waste his life like that, that he has to look around, here and now, instead than to the past like he constantly does.

I swallow back these thoughts without hesitation. Nothing of all that would work, or at least it never did in my past lives, when I had given in and acted like that.

I plaster a fake smile on my face instead. "You know, you should quit with all that brooding and sulking. It isn't good for your skin. You'll find yourself all wrinkled by the time you're thirty."

That's cheating again. I'm not just predicting that. In some of my past lives, Sasuke seemed really old at that age. Of course, the Village women all found him very cute anyways. Except those lives in which he turned evil. Imagine that…

Sasuke growls at me.

"Step. In. The. Circle," he says throwing every word like it was a kunai.

'_Give the little twerp a lesson,_' the Kyuubi whispers alluring in my head.

I ignore the Fox but let the smile fall from my face. It was starting to hurt to pretend.

"Sasuke, it's stupid to live with the only purpose of avenge yourself," I say in a soft voice. The truth is that I really pity the now stunned boy in front of me. "It's stupid and useless and going on like that, you'll miss so many beautiful things." I pause. "And your brother isn't worth them."

His eyes widen and the next instant, the Uchiha boy is already shooting across the circle, his face a mask of rage. He's fast for a Genin. But he's also inexperienced like one. I dodge easily his punch and with just a step, I'm behind him with his left arm in a firm grasp. When he realizes it, it's already too late and he's laying on the ground on his stomach, with all my weight on him, one of my feet on his head, and his arm in an inextricable grasp. He starts struggling for a moment, but a little pressure on his arm and head forces him to stop in pain. I ignore the boy's gasp and the Fox's cackle.

"If you want Itachi to win, then go on living like this and you'll succeed perfectly," I say in a very low voice so that he's the only one who can hear me. The others didn't move at all. Strange… I would have expected a reaction at least from Sakura. I force my attention back on the boy beneath me. "Tell me… why do you hate him?"

"Why?! Why?!" Sasuke hisses barely holding back tears of frustration and rage. "He slaughtered my clan! My family!"

"Because it's his fault if you're all alone," I correct him.

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yells, finally recovered from what I suppose should have been a shock.

I ignore her. "But you persist on staying alone, despite many people would do everything just to stay beside you." I free him from my grasp and step back as he starts to stand up. As to confirm my words, Sakura runs to us and offers him help, but he waves her away, too proud and, frankly, too stupid to accept.

The Uchiha boy turns around and starts to walk away from the Academy, leaving behind a pained Sakura. That makes me mildly annoyed.

"Grow up a little, Sasuke."

After a second of hesitation, he keeps on walking away at a faster pace.

I stay for a moment more before making my way to the Academy doors again. I sit down in one of the many empty seats and rest my right cheek on the cool surface of the desk, as the other Genins start to enter in small groups. Everyone of them looks at me surprised, awed or even suspiciously. I meet their gazes without problem until my teammates and Sasuke's approach me. The pink-haired girl is looking at me murderously.

"Naruto-" she starts to yell.

"Sakura," I interrupt her gently but firmly, lifting a hand. "_He_ called me 'dobe'. _He _wanted to fight. Try to get around your crush at least to be objective like a good kunoichi should be."

The girl blushes and opens her mouth before closing it again, as if she wanted to say something about what I belittled using the term 'crush'. Then, her expression softens a little. At least, it seems like she doesn't want to behead me anymore.

"Yes... but… you…" She doesn't know what to say. That happens when there's nothing to say. I let her get to that conclusion by making her stammer a little more. Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji remain silent as well, the blond girl with an odd expression on her face.

"Fine," Sakura concedes in the end with a sigh. "Your only fault is to have won the fight." Here the kunoichi pauses and blinks a couple of times as if her brain had just processed that particular thing. "How did you do that? Sasuke-kun is the strongest, the fastest…"

I just shrug but see that the answer to this question interests the majority of the classroom, judging by how many are listening to our conversation. "Sasuke was angry. Or better, furious. But rage and fury aren't very useful against a lucid opponent, even if weaker," I say wisely without saying much. I give all my attention to Sakura and speak gently. "Go and bring Sasuke back. Our new Senseis will be here soon, and if he's not here he won't make a good first impression."

The young Haruno seems on the brick of tears. "He… he doesn't want me. And I don't know where he went. I… I tried to follow him, but I lost him almost immediately…"

I smile at her. "I know where he is," I admit and everyone looks at me as if to say 'And how would you know that?' I ignore their expressions and continue as if all was normal. I cannot tell them I sent some clones after Sasuke after all. It would complicate things. "He's in the weapon district, inside the shop called 'Attack Is the Best Defense!' You know it, right?" The girl nods. "Then go or Sasuke will get into trouble." I prod her with some shooing gestures.

After a couple of seconds of indecision, Sakura reaches the doors, glances at me one last time and then bolts out.

The classroom falls into silence and many Genins are staring at me openly now. I offer them my brightest smile – that strangely enough shows my longer than normal teeth –, and they turn in another direction immediately. Ah, now that's better.

"You know, Naruto… you are starting to seem a little too full of surprises for my tastes," Shikamaru tells me, and beside him, Chouji agrees visibly, nodding his head and crunching a fistful of his inevitable chips.

I chuckle. "You don't even know the half of it."

"Ah yes, I'm sure."

"And you're the one to talk, Mister Nara 'I Keep My Grades Average So Nobody Expects Too Much From Me' Shikamaru!"

Ino's head snaps in his direction so fast I fear she hurt herself. Still, she looks at him incredulously. The boy just takes his face in his hands and murmurs something indecipherable. My money is on 'How troublesome'.

"What the hell is he talking about, Shikamaru?" Ino asks a little shocked.

Luckily for the lazy Genin, before the pretty girl can start saying or doing something else, some ninjas enter the room. They all are Jounins, they all have been my Senseis in some of my past lives and one of them will be in this one. We watch as they stand at attention, some more than others, and look at us with serious expressions, again some more than others. Next to me, Chouji whimpers softly once. I guess he's worried about the two absent members of his Team. But it doesn't matter how many times I lived this day, it never happened that Sasuke's group didn't get Hatake Kakashi as Sensei.

And, of course, Hatake Kakashi is not here yet. He won't be before three hours or more.

One by one, every Jounin calls his own Team and steps out with its members. I notice with great pleasure that the only one who is looking in my, Shikamaru's and Ino's direction is a bearded ninja with a cigarette lit up between his lips.

Sarutobi Asuma.

I don't cross my fingers behind my back only because living thousands of lives made me skeptic about the helpfulness of these gestures. Asuma is possibly the funniest Sensei I've ever had. Except maybe Mitarashi Anko, but that is a different kind of fun… Anyway, my silent prayers are granted when it's Asuma's turn to claim a Team.

"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino. Come with me." His deep voice is music to my ears and I rush to the door barely repressing the cheer on my lips.

When I step outside, Asuma is already sprinting at slow speed through the training ground of the Academy. I sense a genjutsu to my right, but I recognize it as something created by Yuuhi Kurenai. It will be up to Hinata, Shino and Kiba to face it. Instead, I start running after my new Sensei, feeling Ino and Shikamaru behind. We catch up with him after a couple of seconds, only to see him pour on the speed to try and outdistance us again zigzagging between the trees surrounding the Academy. I keep his pace easily, apparently as much as my teammates. As I run, I remember all those other times Asuma made us do something of the sort. It was one of his favorite exercises.

When the Hokage's son increases the pace for the fifth time, Ino starts to remain a little behind. The seventh time, Shikamaru too seems to struggle a little to trail us. I feel fresh as a daisy and not because my body is better trained than theirs – well, maybe because of that too – but because my two teammates are not able to use their chakra properly yet. They probably don't know how to pump it under their feet to accelerate, and there's no way they can use it to strengthen their muscles like I do.

When Ino is about to disappear out of sight, Asuma halts on a naked hill that looks on the whole Village. I stand beside him and observe the landscape below. After roughly half a minute, we are reached by a fatigued Shikamaru and after some other minutes also by Ino, red-faced and breathless. She seems unsure if sitting is a good idea or not, but in the end, her legs take the decision for her. With an unlady-like grunt, the young Yamanaka lays down on her back in an attempt to regain her breathing.

After some minutes of silence, disturbed only by the distant noises coming from the Village, I decide to speak up.

"Sensei, is there a reason why you brought us here?"

Asuma hadn't done anything like this in any of my past lives. Now that I think about it, I'm sure I had this exact thought in a previous existence, when I noticed how the Jounin never repeated the same test more than once. This explains how the Hokage's son is completely unpredictable and therefore, exciting.

The man turns slightly and looks at every one of us in the eye.

"Look down there," he says and we comply, Ino pulling herself up on her elbows. "That is the Village of Konoha, the Village you swore to protect by accepting the head-protector you're wearing. You'll have to give your best and even your worst to that Village and its Hokage. There's no other way." Here he pauses a little with a thoughtful expression. "Well, there is another way actually, but I don't recommend it," he adds grinning.

I lift my right hand to my hitai-ite and let my thumb slide on its surface in a horizontal gesture. The other way consists in becoming a missing-ninja whose symbol is an incision going all the way from side to side of the head-protector. Asuma nods with a more serious expression.

"So…" he says clapping his hands once and rubbing them together. "Why don't we sit down, sunbathe and chat a little, eh?"

The Jounin plops down facing Ino and Shikamaru and I mirror him.

He stretches yawning for the next ten seconds, then he takes another drag from his cigarette and resumes with his talking. "What do you say if we introduce ourselves to each other?" When we nod our heads, the Hokage's son continues. "Well, I think it fair if I go first. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like smoking my cigarettes, playing almost every existing game in the world, and fighting strong opponents. I dislike those who lecture me about smoking – and sadly they are far too many –, and I hate arrogant people and cats. They're really awful." His annoyed expression is amusing. "This will be my first Genin Team, as until two years ago, I worked as guard of the Land of Fire's Daimyo for more than ten years. That's all, I think." He doesn't mentions that _little detail_ about his father. He never does. "Now you, Naruto right? Introduce yourself."

"Okay," I say with a wide grin. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like having fun, all kinds of fun. I too like fighting strong opponents," 'but they are very rare nowadays' I add to myself. "Hmmm… one day I'll become Hokage and I'll have the respect of everyone in the Village."

My last comment, said in a matter-of-fact tone, clearly surprises Ino and Shikamaru, who where expecting something more similar to boasting and bragging. Well, they _have_ to start to reconsider me after all. Because it's a different me the one they will have to work with from now on.

Asuma-sensei nods at everything and makes an interested face at my last statement, as if he didn't know that was my dream. Yeah… sure, I'm really buying it...

"Your turn, Shikamaru."

The boy huffs once with a bored expression before starting. "I'm Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping and playing shogi. I don't hate anything, that's too troublesome. But I mildly dislike annoying people. And my mom. Well, she falls into the 'annoying people' category, really."

I chuckle a little and Asuma smiles. Ino's huff is just because of feminine sympathy, I think. The son of the Hokage turns toward her.

"Ino?"

"Yes, my name's Ino Yamanaka. I love going out to shop with my friends and with Sasuke-kun," and here only Asuma manages to repress a snort, but just because he doesn't know the Uchiha boy and how there's no chance he could shop with anyone, let alone Ino. "I hate those who don't respect Nature," she adds tossing me and Shikamaru a death glare, "and those who look down on me because I'm a female ninja." She nods her head, apparently content with her personal summary.

"Perfect," Asuma says. "Now I want every one of you to introduce your teammates."

"What?" Ino asks confused and I can't help but grinning. I knew that was coming. It's another one of the favorite 'games' of the Hokage's son.

"It's simple. You have to give an honest and detailed description of Shikamaru and Naruto and they will do the same with you and each other." Asuma shows the girl a charming smile, the cigarette dangling from the left side of his mouth. "You start Ino."

"Why have I to be the one to start?" she demands uncomfortable, but the Jounin just shrugs. "Fine," she huffs. The girl looks at me, but then averts her eyes and positions them on the Nara boy. "Shikamaru is the laziest person in the Village, but I'm pretty sure even in the other countries he has not many rivals." She shows her tongue to him in a playful gesture. "We know each other from when we were little, so I know it," she adds in a confidential tone addressing to Asuma as if the Nara boy couldn't hear. For his part, the son of the Hokage only nods with a serious expression. "He doesn't talk very much, but when he does he's annoying as hell. My father often dropped me by his family and I was always the one who did all the talking."

"There's a thing called silence, you know..." Shikamaru grumbles, but Ino ignores him.

"When he doesn't sleep, he's always hanging around with Akimichi Chouji who is almost as lazy as him. But he at least talks a little more, even if with a mouth full of chips..." she says almost disdainfully. "Oh and at the Academy, he always ended up in trouble because he never did his homework." She decides to make clear her point as if it wasn't already. "If something requires some kind of effort, then be sure he won't do it."

"Anything else? A good thing perhaps?" Asuma asks partly amused.

"Well... his fishnet T-shirt isn't bad," she admits and everyone except Asuma rolls his eyes. The Jounin, instead, nods his head and points at me.

"Now Naruto."

"Naruto..." Ino begins uncertainly, without looking at me. She needs a few seconds before really start talking and I can't wipe a grin out of my face. "Naruto is loud and annoying. He always pulls pranks on the Villagers and Shinobi, going way over the line. He too always ended up in trouble at the Academy, but more for doing something stupid than for not doing homeworks. He tries to compete with Sasuke-kun, but he's not... uhm..." she hesitates as she darts her blue eyes toward me, and I have to bite the insides of my cheeks not to laugh. She's clearly remembering me literally on top of the Uchiha boy not thirty minutes ago. "Anyway, he can't do a basic jutsu like the Henge to save his life. And have I really to talk about that _awful _orange jumpsuit of his?" This time I can't help but laugh at her disgusted face, as I lean on the grass behind me. "At least," she adds after a moment, eyeing my new blue clothes, "he wears something decent today."

Asuma smiles. "We'll have to do something about that jumpsuit then, eh Naruto?" he's trying to light up a mood there's no need to light up. He probably thinks Ino's words were hard... he should have been there an hour ago, when he called me, if I remember correctly, 'the dead last, the idiot, the loser Naruto!'

"I'm not promising anything," I say with a grin of my own.

"Okay," Asuma nods. "Your turn Shikamaru."

"Have I really?" the boy huffs.

"Yes, you have," the Hokage's son confirms in his deep voice, tilting his head to a side as if assessing him.

The young Nara sighs turning his attention to me. "Two days ago, my opinion on Naruto wouldn't have been much different than Ino's. 'A loud, annoying braggart who always pulls pranks' surmised his character well enough." He stares at me for a long moment letting his bored mask slip off his face. "But now, I don't know… I'm not saying he's not 'a loud, annoying braggart who always pulls pranks' anymore, but I think that isn't enough now. He showed different aspects of his personality overnight**. **He seems more mature, not to say stronger and more skilled. He did defeat Sasuke and Mizuki-sensei easily after all, although he had probably been underestimated by them both. And he got one of the best scores in the exam and the best one overall in the practice portion of it."

I grin wolfishly at that, and I can see Asuma weighing me up with this new information out of the corner of his eye. You'll know how much I'm really strong soon enough, Sensei.

"He also displayed some… _advanced_ abilities and knowledge" he adds probably referring to my Kage Bunshins and my 'grass Rasengan'. "It seems like he downplayed his skills until the Genin-exam, but something is not adding up."

His dark eyes try to bore into me, but my grin is immovable. He's a smart guy, that's for sure. Not that it was that difficult to smell something fishy in my latest behavior after all. I'm not exactly trying to lay low here.

"Very good," Asuma says pleased with this last… _gentler_ judgment.

After another interested look at me, Shikamaru turns toward Ino, assuming a bored expression again. Not a good sign, I'm speaking from experience. "Ino, you are annoying and talk too much, more so when you're around your precious Sasuke-kun. That obsession of yours and of pretty much every girl at the Academy is almost more irritating than my mom waking me up early in the morning. You're a superficial little girl apparently interested only in dresses and boys. And you're often bossy and have a bad temper which is a huge no no in my book."

He says all this almost in one breath and without pause. His decision of directly addressing the girl serves only to harden his already strong words. When he finishes, Ino has a murderous glint in her eyes, as if to confirm Shikamaru's last comment. Asuma-sensei rubs his temples with both hands, with an expression that clearly says 'I had hoped this went better'. I guess we could say his little game somewhat backfired. I'm pretty sure that despite I assisted and participated to this thing countless of times, this one is the harshest of them all. I can see stormy beginnings for Team 10.

"Uhm… your turn Naruto," the Jounin says offering me a half begging, half discouraged look.

I smile. Poor Asuma, he didn't see this start coming. But he should have expected it, at least partially. Kids are often brutal, sometimes cruel. They don't always understand or care for their actions' consequences.

Fortunately for him, I'm not really a kid.

"Hmmm… who should I start with?" I ask to myself tilting my head from side to side. Shikamaru has a bored expression – as always – while Ino has opted for a somewhat snobbish one. Women first, right? I fix my eyes on the young Yamanaka, and she stiffens visibly. Maybe not this time. I turn to the Nara boy and he eyes me almost sleepily.

"I could mix it up a little perhaps..." I say thoughtfully rubbing my chin with my hand. I miss my white beard a little. But I can't do anything about it. It won't appear before a long time. "Okay," I say making up my mind. I give all my attention to Asuma-sensei and start talking.

"Ino and Shikamaru are not as different as they might seem." My introductory comment isn't exactly well received, at least judging by the double "WHAT?" that comes from the two Genins. "Their attitudes certainly are and those are what we all see most of the time. She's passionate, he's apathetic. She's bossy, he's passive. She's energetic, he's lazy and so on. That is why they rub each other the wrong way so much."

I can see Asuma is very interested in my statements, and very amused by all the sputtering the two are keeping on doing. He nods his head with a knowing smile as he puts out his cigarette and drops it into an apposite compartment of his Jounin uniform. I so terribly don't want to know what unspeakable hideousnesses are hidden in there.

"But when things get serious, both are there, present for those they care about. Even for each other, yes," I add turning to them when they try to deny it. "They both exude self-confidence and leadership, each in their own different way. When they absolutely want something, they do whatever is necessary to get it." At the incredulous look from Ino to Shikamaru, I feel an explanation of that last point is needed. "Think about what he's done at the Academy," I tell her. "He could have _easily_ been the best student of our class in almost everything. Still, he chose not to stand out, and don't underestimate how difficult it is to hold back like that. Believe me, I know." I strongly hint that that's what I did as well, and Shikamaru and I receive two stunned looks from the girl. "Anyways, what I mean is that you are more similar than you think, and that both of you have what is needed to become a good Shinobi of the Leaf."

I could have said something more specific - I know them very, very well after all -, but there was no need, really. I already made my point, judging by the thoughtful silence that follows my last comment. Ino and Shikamaru are looking at each other with very skeptic expressions. Ino can be as stubborn as hell, and Shikamaru, while very intelligent and observant, is still a little kid. It will take more than just a few words from 'the dead last' to make them notice and hopefully accept it.

"Very good," Asuma-sensei says standing up. "Now that we know each other fairly well..." and here our incredulous looks prompt him to add, "for a starting point... we can pass to something else." He dusts his green vest before looking at us with a smile. "I want you to show me your best shot. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, you choose... I want to see the thing you feel the most proficient in." He looks around with an approving expression. "I think we have enough room here."

I stand up and offer a hand to Ino. She takes it after a moment and I help her on her feet, while thinking what to do. For a moment, I ponder the idea of showing Asuma the complete version of the Rasengan, but then settle for my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's definitely my favorite move, if not the one I'm the most proficient in, and it is affectively important to me. There are others, many others, as well, but this one will be impressive enough.

I see my two teammates hesitate, so I decide to start for first. "Asuma-sensei, may I?"

"Go on Naruto. I hope you're going to show me your infamous Sexy no Jutsu I heard so much about," he says smiling.

I'm oh so gonna wipe that smile off his face. I was ready to hold back a little by making the seals and letting smoke and sound make an appearance, but that grin of his made me change my mind.

_My_ _grin_ is much wider when, a second later, thousands of Naruto appear everywhere around us, every one of them yelling a loud "Oy!" that deafens me as well, despite I knew they would have done that. Neither smoke, nor sound anticipated their coming and I performed no seal at all. All this without breaking a sweat.

The nearest clone to Asuma pats him on the arm when he sees his completely stunned expression, and the Jounin makes a double take. Ino's and Shikamaru's expression are not that different, all with their open mouths and wide eyes.

I laugh - and when I say 'I', I mean _every_ 'I' there - with another deafening, not to say eerie, result.

"N-Naruto... are they Kage Bunshins?" Asuma asks me - the very me - stammering less than what I expected. He starts touching some of the clones to test their solidity and much to his surprise and delight, everyone he touches is solid indeed.

"Yeah, and I can do a lot more," I say and each Naruto nods his head in agreement. Ino and Shikamaru still have their mouths open as they look at the multitude in front of them. And behind them. And to their right... and left.

I smirk. "So, what do you think Sensei?"

He turns toward me slowly, showing me very wide eyes. He lifts a hand, palm to me, as if to stop me or shut me up. He starts searching in one of his chest pockets and soon enough produces a cigarette package. He takes one from it, puts it between his lips and lights it up with a hand gesture. Then he takes a long drag, exhaling very slowly, eyes closed. When he opens them again, he reveals a serious expression on his face.

"Not bad," he says in a bored tone and I burst out laughing. He smiles too after a moment. "Dispel them so we can continue. There's too little room _now_."

I chuckle again as my Kage Bunshins disappear, again without producing neither smoke nor sound. Asuma shakes his head disbelievingly.

"Ino, let's see what you got."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sometimes later, we all are dining at Mitsuruka's, a place I grew accustomed to in some of my past lives. The owner, a forty years old man who is now glaring at me from behind the counter, has a daughter I married a couple of times - seven, I think. Maybe the man can sense the danger. The girl, Karena, is serving at the tables. She's already very pretty at thirteen, and she's glancing now and then at my whisker marks with an interested expression. I thank her with a sweet smile when she puts my grilled steak in front of me.

"You already hit on her, eh Naruto?" Asuma asks trying to embarrass me as Karena goes back to her father. We're the only customers at the moment in the late afternoon.

I just grin at him. I'm not a little kid who blushes at the littlest teasing. "Nah. Don't think so. She was simply fascinated by my _unusual _marks. They're almost _fox_-like."

It's Asuma instead who feels uncomfortable at my statement. Tonight he'll be at his father's door knocking forcefully and shouting 'He knows! He knows!'

Now, that's an amusing image!

Anyway, he's a Jounin and an expert one at that, so he shows his wariness with just minimal shoulder stiffness. "You could use that to chat her up," he replies smoothly.

"Oh yeah, sure," I say, slicing my steak. "I could use something like 'Hey pretty girl, I've got a _lot_ of marks on my body. Wanna see them?' That's just perfect to start a relationship." Asuma snorts, while Ino seems disgusted and embarrassed. Shikamaru... Shikamaru is thoughtful. I hope he isn't thinking about my marked naked body. He had never been gay in any of my past lives. But he is, after all, going through a phase of sexual instability...

Bah! Who am I kidding? The Nara boy always ends up with a smocking hot kunoichi. There's no way he could be interested in a boy, fortunately, if said boy is me. He's probably thinking about my comments, maybe even putting everything together and discovering my secret. Well, one of them anyways...

"Who could be interested in someone like you?" Ino says with a scowl and still a slight blush.

"Hey, not everyone likes dark-haired brooding boys, you know? Who doesn't like pretty blue eyes and golden locks of hair?" I exclaim, rolling a blond curl around my finger and batting my eyelids at her. "And what about a sunny, not to say funny, attitude?"

"Well, not me!" she shouts, blushing furiously and averting her eyes.

"Really?" I keep on teasing her. "Still, you should know blondes have more fun."

Her sputtering is interrupted when Karena comes back with two bowls of sauce. I smile at her.

"Thank you very much," I say and she smiles back. She has the cutest dimples.

"You're welcome."

"Sorry..." I stop her as she's starting to step away. She turns around and tilts her head to a side. "I... I just wanted to say you're very pretty when you smile."

The cute blush that creeps on her cheeks is the only comprehensible answer I get as she stammers something before bolting to a door and out of sight.

The shocked silence at the table prolongs for some seconds.

"What?" I say finally with a grin and Asuma starts chuckling.

"Oh my, they gave me a wannabe Casanova."

"You were flirting!" Shikamaru says with an almost disgusted expression. I guess he didn't hit puberty yet, for him to react like this. Or maybe, he really is gay... At least, he isn't feigning boredom anymore.

"I was just complimenting her." That has always been my line of defense, in every one of my lives. I admit it can have some flaws, but I like it.

Ino is sporting an unhealthy angry-red on her face and she's started eating her meal with a dangerous forcefulness. She wipes her plate way before me, and that's really an accomplishment.

"Want some?" I ask her, pointing at my plate and trying to ignore the death glare coming from the restaurant's owner not too far away. "The steak is really good. Ino, you should eat some." Her plate was just... pathetic. Two carrots, a potato and a mountain of vegetables. Mine is overflowing with delicious meat and sauce, and I already gobbled down a lot of appetizers she barely touched.

"No," she says forcefully.

"Why not? It seems like you're still hungry."

"I said no! I have to watch my weight," she answers scowling.

I frown at her. "That's one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard and I heard some quite idiotic ones, especially coming from my own mouth."

"WHAT!" the girl half snorts half yells in an unlady-like sound. At least she's also amused and not just mad at me.

"Nevermind," I say waving dismissively with my hand. "Do whatever you want. It's your body after all."

Asuma decides to change the subject as soon as possible. "So... as I already said, tomorrow we'll start taking missions," the Hokage's son says in his deep voice. We Genins nod our heads, Ino after a last moment of grumbling. "They'll be boring ones at first," he continues with an annoyed expression, "but with time we'll get something more serious. The missions will help us understand how to work as a Team and what to expect from its every member. I want you to think about today, about what your teammates did and said, and try to somewhat reconcile them with your own abilities."

I already did that using way more information than just what Ino and Shikamaru let out today. After my _little _demonstration with my impressive jutsu, my two teammates performed their basic clan techniques, the Nara's Kagemane no Jutsu and the Yamanaka's Shintenshin no Jutsu. Both are very useful already but when they'll learn something more advanced, it will be even better. After that, Asuma made us spar against each other to see how our taijutsu was. Even with my weights on, I had no problem at all against them, but I was positively surprised by Ino. The girl is fast and agile and when she'll start using chakra to improve in both, she'll be a force to recon with. Shikamaru held back a little as always and even a mild beating from my part couldn't motivate him enough to give his best. Asuma gave pointers here and there in his usual gentle way and soon enough he called a halt and took us here to dine.

"I'm glad I was assigned to this Team. I see great potential and possibilities in you. If you play your cards right, you'll be Chuunins in no time."

"We just made Genins," Shikamaru groans. He's clearly thinking about what a pain it would be to take another exam.

Asuma just shrugs before returning to his plate.

Some food, conversations and cigarettes later, we are ready to go. After a little more of flirting from my part, we exit the restaurant leaving behind a fuming father and a blushing daughter.

"You're shameless, Naruto," Shikamaru says shaking his head. We're still in front of the building, under the yellow light of a streetlamp.

I feign annoyance. "Again, she was kind and I just complimented her."

"If you had complimented her kindness instead of her 'chocolate eyes', then I could have believed it."

"Whatever," I say shrugging and turning to Asuma. "What now, Sensei?"

"Now?" he asks lighting up another cigarette. He then pumps a fist in the air cheerily. "Now it's bedtime!"

Shikamaru and Ino roll their eyes, but I mimic the Hokage's son playfully. "Yay!"

He chuckles one last time. "No, seriously. Get a night of rest. Tomorrow we'll work hard on training and missions so you'll need a full dose of sleep." He starts walking away. "See you at seven in front of the Hokage tower. Night!" He disappears behind a corner leaving us in silence.

Shikamaru puts his hands in his pockets and start walking in the opposite direction in a not so different manner than our Sensei, but from a midget without a cigarette it hasn't the same cool effect. Of course, he doesn't care at all and _that_ makes him cool.

"See you then."

"Bye," Ino and I say in chorus.

"So..." I turn toward her. "I'll accompany you home."

She's shocked for an instant. "You... you don't have to."

"No, I don't," I agree, "but it's a beautiful night and I like walking very much."

"Well, I don't live far from here... Are you sure?"

"Yes, let's go."

We walk side by side without talking. She seems embarrassed, but I'm really enjoying the fresh air and the silence. We reach her house, the first of a large complex all owned by the Yamanaka clan, and I accompany her till the front door. She fumbles with the keys for a while, her back to me, before turning around.

"Thanks," she says looking at her feet.

I smile at her, starting to step away.

"No problem. Good night."

"Night."

I watch her enter the house before going back to the street.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

I'm running lightly through the woods near the south gate of the Village, jumping back and forth between the trees' branches and the ground with a slow pace. I've been followed for two minutes now, but I almost reached the perfect spot. There, I see it already.

I enter the clearing five seconds later. It's fairly big, wide, with just a lonely tree roughly in its middle. I slow down to a stop at a few meters from its trunk and wait for about a minute. Then I turn to my left and look between the bushes and right in a dark pair of eyes, now widening in shock.

I sigh.

"Come out, Sasuke."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Author's notes – I had to do some serious editing for this chapter. There were a couple of scenes I didn't even recognize as my own. I was thoroughly disgusted by their fluffiness. I hope I managed to clean them up enough to make them at least bearable now. I don't know how much it will take me to post the next chapters. If they're as bad as this one was (and maybe is), then it could be a while.


	3. Chapter 3 – It’s Been a Wet Day

Author's notes – I didn't know if posting this was a good idea. The first two chapters of this story were actually written before my other story on this site "He's Not Normal" even started. Since then, I managed to write three other chapters in two weeks, and then my inspiration went downhill. Three days ago, my Muse came back to me and helped me writing the sixth chapter of this story, so I decided to give it a chance after some editing. It has more or less the same starting point as my other story and it actually inspired it in some ways, but there are major differences between the two, the first one being the genre. While "He's Not Normal" is my attempt at writing a parody, with this one I'm trying a more serious approach, but not too much more serious. Hope you'll enjoy it, or better, them both.

Warning – I'm Italian and without a beta (a much needed beta I'm said and I happen to agree), so this story will probably be a big huge mistake from a grammatical and syntactical point of view. I hope it doesn't suck completely from other points of view as well. Anyways, consider yourselves warned. There will be many mistakes both in my attempt at writing in English and in Japanese (or at least those few Japanese words I will _have_ to use). You can point them out to me at your leisure. I'll do what I can.

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 3 – It's Been a Wet Day

I have to wait ten seconds before Uchiha Sasuke finally decides that yes, I've seen him and yes, I've asked him to come out of the bushes. The boy steps hesitantly away from the shadow of the trees and enters the clearing. I watch him as he walks under the moonlight and in front of me. He's tense. Not a 'ready to attack' kind of tense… more like a 'what the hell am I doing here? What do I do now?' kind.

I let out a contented sigh as I plop down with my back against the lonely tree in the middle of the clearing. I lean my head against its trunk and for a moment, I just sit there with my eyes closed, breathing in all the wonderful smells of the forest.

"Did you catch a bell?" I ask turning to the boy and looking into his eyes. I'm honestly curious. I know he and his Team passed - they always do -, but the dynamics are often very different.

He startles a little, not having expected the question, and then regards me annoyed. "No," he grunts looking away. "You?"

I shake my head. "No, our Sensei didn't test us that officially."

"Then, why did you ask if I got a bell?" he demands suspiciously. 'How did you know?' he could have asked.

"I know Kakashi very well," I say smiling a little while remembering something of the past about the silver-haired ninja. Konoha's secret technique "One Thousand Years of Pain" is simply an undeletable memory in my mind, even though I only experienced it first-hand during my very first life. I resist the urge to rub my butt as I continue. "Did you try and work with your teammates?"

Sasuke just looks at me with narrowed eyes before finally sitting down at a couple of meters from my tree. "Not really," he then says. "The girl tried to follow me, but she just ended up under a genjutsu."

I snort with more annoyance than amusement. "The _girl_ has a name, Sakura, you know?" I tell him shaking my head. "Anyway, if you really had teamed up, you could have stood a chance."

He grumbles something incomprehensible, maybe agreeing with me.

We remain in silence for some minutes. My head is now turned upwards to the clear dark sky. Many stars are visible behind the tree leaves rustled by a cold wind, and I find myself almost open-mouthed in font of that sight. I sigh a little as I notice Sasuke isn't watching it at all. His gaze is fixed on me instead.

I tilt my head to a side as I look into that dark pair of eyes.

'_Why not?_' I ask myself. '_I never did it so early, just the second day of my new life - except in those where I really didn't care about anything and anybody. But I feel like doing it right now_'. I sound convincing in my own head and the only other opinion I get is a growl from the Kyuubi. Strangely enough, the Fox's reaction is what completely makes up my mind.

I'm letting Sasuke in one of my many little secrets. Let's see how he reacts to the little prisoner inside of me...

"Do you know what the most terrible thing that happened to this Village is, Sasuke?"

The boy furrows his brow, but before even he himself realizes it, I recognize it as a stupid question to ask him. "No, don't answer that," I say raising a hand. "You most definitely think the answer is the Uchiha massacre." I interpret his glare as a yes. "Oh, it was certainly a terrible event, very dramatic, but I think you're slightly biased on that matter." I frown a little. "And now that I think about it, I guess I am biased as well..."

The Kyuubi agrees with me._ ''You are, but biased doesn't necessarily mean wrong. And trust me. In this instance, you are both biased and right._'

I smile at that and Sasuke's brow furrows furthermore in confusion. After all, he doesn't know I hear voices in my head. Yet.

'_Idiot,' _is my answer to the Fox in the meantime. '_You're biased too._'

I hear the bastard chuckle as I speak out loud again. "Anyway, do you really think that was the worse thing ever happened to this Village? Think again."

Sasuke narrows his eyes at first, but then complies and starts working on the possible right answer. After a couple of seconds I finally see the light of understanding in his black irises. "The Kyuubi no Kitsune's attack..." he says slowly.

"Yes," I whisper with a sad smile. "Hundreds of Shinobis and Villagers died that night. Every clan and almost every family in Konoha lost someone to the Demon. Some were even completely wiped out forever. Can you see what that means?"

He nods slowly, and I can see in his eyes the images of dead Uchihas lying on the ground, drowning in pools of blood.

"Maybe you can," I say as he expertly blinks the memories away. "And you sure as hell understand what all those families and clans feel about who took their loved ones away from them."

I stop for a second. Were my eyes like Sasuke's when I really was a kid so many millions years ago? Did they always show everything that passed through my mind to those who were interested enough to pay attention to them? Because in those black irises of his, the boy is now showing me clearly the lean, dark form of Uchiha Itachi looking at me from a barely illuminated street.

Sasuke sets his jaw and stiffens visibly, and I smile gently at him, resuming my speech. "What do you know about the Kyuubi?"

The boy seems still a little upset, but he answers immediately. It's rare that Sasuke is so forthcoming. I guess my demonstration this morning made an impression of sort. "It was-"

"He," I correct him and the Fox in question grunts his approval in my head. _He _hates it when they refer to him as 'it'.

Sasuke just raises both eyebrows, but doesn't comment. He instead starts talking about the Kyuubi and doesn't finish until two or more minutes pass. He goes on and on, and I nod my way through his history lesson of sort. He clearly did his homework back at the Academy. He made only a mistake - though a large one - but admittedly, it's not his fault.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune was **not **killed by the Yondaime Hokage.

"Then tell me," I finally say standing up. "How did the Yondaime kill him?"

He stands up as well while reflecting about it, before shrugging. "Maybe with a forbidden jutsu or one of his invention, or-"

I interrupt his musings. "I'll tell you." He looks at me with a blank face as I duck a little in his direction as if about to reveal a great secret. And that's exactly what I'm doing.

"He didn't."

His puzzled expression prompts me to continue. "The Yondaime didn't, or better couldn't kill the Kyuubi no Kitsune." I pause for a moment. "All he could do was to seal him inside a new-born baby."

Sasuke makes an interested expression and seems to be waiting for me to say something else. Then his eyes widen and his jaw drops open in realization. "Y-you..." he stammers in a very small voice.

I nod grimly. "Yes. The Yondaime sealed him inside me at the cost of his life and the Third ordered that no one who didn't already know was to be informed about it. What I just told you is an S-class secret. There's a specific law that prohibits anyone from revealing it. I'm the only person in this Village who can, and you are the first person I told," I say seriously as he plops down again continuing to look up at my face, stunned.

"Yes," I say sitting next to him and looking up at the beautiful sky. "That's why everybody hates me so much."

After a couple of seconds, I turn towards Sasuke again, and find him more composed, if a little wary. I grin internally.

'_Oh boy,' _the Kyuubi sighs and I can picture him rolling his huge red eyes._ 'Here it comes.'_

I meet Sasuke's dark, shocked eyes and with a sad smile on my face, I say the sentence I always use when I reveal this secret to the Uchiha boy, a sentence that annoys the Fox to no end.

"I'm everybody's Itachi."

Yes. I'm a little drama queen.

OoOoOoOoOoO

We talk for nearly two hours. Sasuke takes everything in relatively well. I'm a little crept out that the first thing he asked me was if I could let the Kyuubi out, but for the most part the conversation went like it always does. The fact that Sasuke is more than a little self-centered always helps. Yes, Uzumaki Naruto has a great secret and a great problem. But it's _his _secret; it's _his _problem. Sasuke doesn't really care all that much if those things don't affect him much. His last statement on the matter is self-explanatory.

"So this is why you beat me..." he says and I frown.

"Partially, yes."

"Partially?"

I answer his growl with a chuckle.

"That's more to it than what I told you," I continue grinning. "But that's a story for another time, I think."

The boy grumbles for a while, but then seems satisfied - _partially _at least. We part ways soon after that.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The sounds of the forest keep me company as I walk home, lost in my musings. I'm a little sleepy, but I can't wipe this stupid grin off of my face.

Who would have ever thought it would go this well? Sure, it took a little while, but in the end, the Uchiha boy accepted my dark secret very calmly. Maybe I should start each of my new lives like this, by revealing the presence of the Kyuubi inside me. Maybe there's no need to hide that secret at all. Whatever… I'll think about it when the time comes.

I step out of the woods and into a street. It's still fairly early, maybe nine or ten o'clock, and the Village is buzzing with activity. I bow my way through all the glares and sneers, and reach my apartment's building. I immediately feel them on both sides of the street and beyond the main door I'm reaching. They're concealing their presence but not enough for me not to sense them. They're many and they're ANBU, and that means there is someone important in the immediacies. My money is on the Hokage in my apartment.

I don't hesitate in the slightest - thus avoiding alerting them - and go up the stairs, soon finding myself in front of my door. I'm about to unlock it and enter when I finally sense his presence beyond it. The Sandaime is clearly the best Shinobi of this Village. I very much doubt anyone else could have concealed himself this well from me. And he probably isn't even trying that hard.

I pause for an instant before smiling behind the solid door. It's about the only solid thing I have in my apartment. Let's just say it's a necessity.

"Hey Ojiisan, are you here to finally give me my hat?" I ask right as I open it and step in.

The Hokage's expression is priceless, even if it lasts for barely a second before his features go blank and then gentle again. I grin cheekily at him, closing the door with my foot.

"I'm afraid it's still a little early for that, Naruto-kun," he answers checking me intently in my new clothes. Yeah, no orange there, old man.

The Sandaime is sitting on my battered sofa in all his Hokage-self. The robe and hat are there, and so is his 'game face'. I guess this is a business visit after all. Let's act properly then.

"What can I do for you then, Hokage-sama?" I ask seriously, and both his eyebrows rise a little at the unusual form of address... unusual coming from me.

Then he chuckles a little, but I can see wariness in him now. "Why don't you sit down here?" he says patting the pierced cushion next to him. "I want to talk with you about something."

I comply, feeling a little uncomfortable. Asuma already told him that I probably know of my furry prisoner and this conversation can be very important for both our lives. I hope he's willing to take a couple of steps in my direction, because I'm willing to do it in his.

I break the awkward silence first. "I'm glad your son is my new Sensei."

"And I'm glad to hear that." The Hokage smiles visibly happy about that. "He told me your Team is very good and he is excited about teaching you. He was particularly impressed by your knowledge of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and by your proficiency in it." He nods his head at me in a little bow of sort. "And I am as well. It is an A-rank jutsu after all and very difficult to master." He pauses for an instant. "Where did you learn it from?"

I duck my head a little, twisting my hands in nervous gestures and looking appropriately guilty. "I... I sort of took that big scroll in your house... I'm sorry." I bet my contrived expression is painful to just watch at, on this cute little face of mine.

"Naruto!" the Hokage chastises me, half-angry and half-shocked. I continue to play the part of a guilty twelve years old as the old man recomposes himself. I meet his eyes and let mine water a little.

"I'm really sorry! But I always put everything back in its place and didn't damage anything, I swear!"

The Sandaime opens his mouth in shock. "E-everything?" he stammers a little. "Naruto! How many of my scrolls did you read?"

I look away, apparently ashamed, and I actually feel a little ashamed for lying to the old man like this. "Every one I could find..." I whisper in a very small voice.

This time it takes a little longer for the Hokage to shout my name, but he does it in the end. "Naruto! I'm utterly shocked!" He takes a deep breath. "How did you do that?"

What follow are a long and detailed description of my stealth capabilities and tactics, and then an even longer and more detailed list of all the jutsus I learned thanks to them. I had made Hokage in many of my past lives after all, and those 'big scrolls' became mine eventually. All the paperwork and filing I had to do during my Rokudaime or sometimes Godaime days come in handy as I list down jutsu after jutsu. The Kyuubi's supernatural memory is especially helpful, but I check his reminders carefully before offering them to the old man. The Fox isn't exactly the most reliable source and it wouldn't be the first time he tried to screw me somehow. Sure enough, the bastard lists down a genjutsu that I know can't possibly be in the Hokage tower at this time. I avoid mentioning it to the Sandaime, as well as a couple of other jutsus I'm not really sure about. I internally growl at my prisoner and he cackles at me, not really disappointed in not having succeeded.

The old Sarutobi is visibly shocked - and impressed, despite trying to hide it. He asks me repeatedly if I really know how to use this ninjutsu or that seal, but in the end, he lets me finish my list without speaking. Still, I can see him carefully registering everything I'm saying. The following silence lasts a lot longer and is a lot more awkward than any of the previous ones. The Hokage looks at me completely expressionless. I can't read anything that is going through his mind - though I can probably guess.

He then surprises me. He grins. A _real _grin. Then he chuckles once. A second time. A third. What the hell? I grin too, more confused than anything else, but... I repeat it... what the hell?

"Naruto," the Hokage uses my name with a different tone this time, amusement evident in his voice and features, "I'm really impressed. I'm sure I should probably be lecturing you right now, telling you that what you did was wrong and dangerous, but I find myself unable to. I cannot help but being proud of you." He pauses, his eyes bright as I smile at him scratching the back of my head, a little embarrassed.

Then, looking up into his old eyes, I see a flash of something. An image - vanishing as quickly as it had appeared - of a blond boy trying to sneak away with a couple of scrolls in his arms. It's just an instant before that flash backs again deep into the Hokage's eyes, but it was long enough for me to recognize the boy.

My smile widens hugely at the failed stunt of one Namikaze Minato, Yondaime of Konoha and my father.

"Thank you, Ojiisan," I say more than a little happy. It's always good to learn something new about your parents, especially when it's also something funny.

"You're welcome," the Sandaime answers with something very akin to affection in his voice. "But know that I'll increase the security on those scrolls, maybe even moving them somewhere else, so I expect you to be at least more challenged in reaching them."

I chuckle. "I don't think I'll have much time for that anyway. I'm a Genin now," I say puffing my chest exaggeratedly.

"Yes, yes you are," the Hokage agrees smiling.

We talk for a long while. He asks me about my Team and Sensei. I ask him about missions and jutsus. He asks me about Iruka and my exam. I ask him about Mizuki and his arrest. Small talk between Shinobis, in short. We know the juicy topic is another one, but we both are content with circling around it for the time being. Still, that's just postponing the inevitable. And in fact...

"Naruto," he starts, sighing, "I didn't come here to talk about this, nor about your knowledge of advanced jutsus you should _not _have known."

I smile at his last little jab before getting serious again. "Is it because of what I told Asuma-sensei at dinner?"

There is a long silence before he answers. His last hopes about me not knowing are slowly vanishing. "Yes."

"Is it because I know the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside me?"

The Hokage here lets out a shuddering breath, clasping his hands on his lap tightly. "Yes."

I smile sadly at him. "If you're worrying about me, Ojiisan, don't. Please. I'm okay. I've known for a long while." Longer than you can imagine, old man.

"How did you find out?" he asks me softly and I come up with a credible lie real quick. Well, not really. I already used it countless of times in the past.

"I overheard two Villagers talking about your law," I say hesitating a little. "And then I remembered all those times someone shouted at me... called me 'monster' or... or 'demon'... and I understood why."

"You are _not _a monster, Naruto," the Sandaime tells me forcefully, putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me to face him completely. "Nor a demon. You are a good boy and now a Shinobi of the Leaf." The steel in the Hokage's voice and eyes is moving, really. I'm not affected by the situation anymore, this thing I'm putting up is just an act, but it's actually nice to hear the old man telling me these things.

"I know," I whisper with bright, sad eyes. And the award as best actor in a leading role goes to... Uzumaki Naruto in 'Woe is me'!

I internally berate myself. I'm starting to revert a little, hardly acting like the old man I actually am. Sure, it always happens in the first period of every one of my new lives, but this situation is serious, especially for the man in front of me. I shouldn't take it this lightly. Besides, he's speaking again and I really should listen to him.

"The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside you because he knew you would have protected this Village," the Hokage says softly but firmly. "And you're proving him right. You're doing it despite how people treat you and I _know _that one day you will conquer them all with your heart."

Okay... now things are starting to get a little too sappy and saccharine for my tastes. Still, the Sandaime is convinced he's talking with a twelve years old boy and I guess this speech could have made the real twelve years old Naruto dissolve into sobs and tears. Hmmm... Should I? I hesitate a little before giving up. I don't feel emotional enough at the moment to attempt that major acting stunt. I duck my head a little instead, as if to hide my watering eyes. The Hokage's hands squeeze my shoulders trying to comfort me.

"The Yondaime wanted the Village to see you as the hero who saved Konoha and its habitants," the old man continues unaware of my inner _turmoil_, "but I failed him and you both, because I wasn't able to make that happen." His voice cracks a little in the end and though my head is still low, I'm reasonably sure there are tears in his eyes.

I feel like shit right now – not at a level where I could sob and cry for real, but we're near that point. Hell, the Hokage, I repeat, _The Hokage_ is here, heart on his sleeve and apologizing to me, and what am I doing? I'm lying and pretending! I hope this conversation is over very soon. Wait. Scratch that. I'm going to do something about it.

"Don't worry about that, Ojiisan!" I lift my head trying to ignore the unshed tears on the man's eyes. "I really don't care about that. I'm not a hero for having the Kyuubi sealed inside me and nobody should treat me like one for it. The Yondaime **is **for defeating him." I smile at the man and brace myself for what I'm about to say. "But I'll soon be a great Shinobi and the best Hokage Konoha will ever have, and I'll do like you said. I'll finally conquer them all with my heart." My voice and stare are firm and determined, but I'm gagging internally as the Demon Fox howls in laughter. Still, the Sandaime's expression appears as resolute as my fake one and he really seems to believe in it and in me. That mitigates the bitterness I feel because of the bastard cackling in my head.

'_Oh God,_' the Kyuubi says breathlessly after a while. '_And you want me to give up all this fun just to let you rest? Hell no!_' He cackles some more and I grit my teeth. '_I'll never let you go!_' he shouts between chuckles, and his voice takes the typical psychotic quality it always gets when blood is shed. '_You will destroy and kill for ever, because I'm saying so! Dance for me, you little bitch!_'

That's when I shut him off. It's already hard to act and pretend in front of an accomplished Shinobi, but with also an annoying Demon speaking in your head is too much. Besides, the Kyuubi was clearly on a tangent there, and would have neither stopped nor said anything interesting for a while. I decide to chase the bastard out of my mind then, and give my whole attention to the Hokage on my couch. I'm just grateful I learned this useful trick in my first life. If not... I don't think I would have remained sane much longer.

The old Sarutobi is smiling fondly at me. "I feel better now that I know there is someone capable to take my place when the time comes."

"Yeah," I say and my cheeky grin can finally return to my lips. "You're covered there, Ojiisan. Don't worry."

The conversation goes on for a little longer. The Sandaime tells me everything he knows about the seal on my belly and its effects on my body and growth. He leaves a couple of holes about why the Yondaime chose me and who my parents were. He doesn't exactly lie to me. He just swims far away from those particular topics. I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable, nor do I want to make him break his promise to my father, so I just play the part of the oblivious and a little obtuse boy, and nod my head asking the expected questions.

Roughly half an hour later, the old man really has to go. He probably had to cancel one or more of his appointments for this little chat, but I guess it was important to him. He stands up, stretching his legs and spine like I often did just two days ago. I can sympathize with him greatly as he grimaces at the popping sounds of his joints.

"I'm glad we had this conversation," he tells me after a second.

"Me too," I agree.

"I would offer you ramen, but sadly I really have things to do."

"No problem, Ojiisan. I hope those 'things' aren't paperwork."

The Hokage reaches my apartment's door, chuckling a little before sighing tiredly. "They are, unfortunately."

"Well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" I say softly, smiling at him.

He turns around, slowly opening the door and regarding me with determined eyes, the deeper meaning of my sentence not lost to him. "Right," he whispers before stepping outside.

Then he closes the door and his presence slowly fades away from my senses.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It's the third day of this new life and it's raining. Dark clouds cover the sky, blocking the sunlight from passing through and declaring the beginning of a new morning. It seems like the night wanted a couple of hours more. The Villagers of Konoha are just now starting to open their shops, but it's strange to see them doing it in the darkness. They all give the impression of robbers or something.

I often wondered why it doesn't always rain the third day of my new lives. Some lives, the seventeenth of October is just gloomy, some others are just a little cloudy or even sunny. One would think that the Kyuubi and I can't really influence the weather, but it seems strange that it can change this much in just two days. Anyway, I abandoned the idea of solving this mystery a lot of existences ago, but I still can't help but being fascinated by it.

I'm walking calmly through puddles and trickles, an improvised umbrella in my right hand. It's all made of wood – not the best option, I admit it, but it was quick work and I didn't spend money on it. Just a quick fusion involving water and earth and there it was – a home-made wooden umbrella. There are neither thunders nor lightning at the moment, so I feel pretty much safe. My creation is perfectly succeeding in keeping me from getting soaked, so I'm rather happy with it. And besides, it's nice to see the cascading water fall when I tilt it a little.

I soon reach the Hokage tower where I have to meet with my Team, but it's still a little early so I'm not expecting to find them, though I'm almost certain I'll find another person. Sure enough, neither Shikamaru, nor Ino, nor Asuma are there. But Hyuuga Hinata is. The girl is standing right in front of the open doors leading to the tower, with her hands in her jacket's pockets and her shoulders slightly hunched. It's not very cold today despite the weather and hour, but standing in the rain certainly isn't healthy. And that hood of hers doesn't seem to help very much.

I'm next to her now and she still hasn't seen me. I can be very sneaky when I want to. I grin mischievously, enlarging my wooden umbrella to cover her as well, before speaking.

"Hey Hinata, how are you doing?"

At the sound of my voice, the Hyuuga heir startles a little and turns around. It doesn't take long before her face is completely purple. After a couple of seconds of staring, she seems to properly realize that I'm right next to her, that I'm using my umbrella to protect her against the rain and that I just asked her a question thus starting a conversation. The result of this realization is a little strangled sound as she jumps away from me.

"Ah, did I scare you?" I take a step forward and cover her again from the rain. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"N-no N-Naruto... you just s-surprised me," she says in a very small voice, looking down at her feet. Her hands are out of her pockets now, and guess what are her forefingers doing?

"Are you waiting for your Team to take a mission?" I ask her and she just nods. "Me too. It will be our first one. Yesterday we just talked and trained a little." Thousands and thousands of years of experience taught me that the teenage Hinata needs to be forcefully dragged into a conversation if you want her to do something more than just nod and shake her head. Questions requiring elaborate answers are the best way. "And you? What did you do with your Team?"

"Ah… w-we talked... and... s-sparred..." the girl stammers, her face beet red.

"I bet you kicked Shino and Kiba around with that Jyuuken of yours, eh?" I nudge her slightly with my elbow, causing a lot of water to fall from the front of the umbrella and onto the ground. Hinata lets out something similar to a gasp, if because of the sight or because of our contact, I don't know.

"Ah... no... they are t-too strong," she says.

I smile at her and wait enough before answering that she raises her gaze and sees that smile.

"Don't say that, Hinata-chan," I reprimand her lightly. "You're very strong. And very nice. And very pretty."

At these words, she tries and fails to speak, then looks down and sways dangerously on her legs as if about to fall to the ground. I steady her switching my umbrella to my left hand and circling my now free right arm around her shoulders. I can't see her expression because she just turned her head to the other side, but I have a pretty good idea of what color I would find on her face. Enjoying her body leaning against mine, I pretend to be holding my long lost wife in my arms before finally stepping back. I keep my hand on her shoulder a second longer and make sure she won't pass out suddenly, but then I let her go.

She's still with her back to me, but I can hear her breathing hard over the continuous sound of the raindrops on my wooden umbrella. I smile a little and wonder if I went a little too far too soon. Shrugging slightly to myself, I sense a couple of people getting near.

Ino reaches us running, a blue jacket covering her head and more importantly her hair. I hope she didn't use any make up this morning or she will resemble more a clown than a ninja by the end of the day. Shino instead is walking calmly towards us, a dark green raincoat covering almost every inch of his body. Kikai bugs don't like water very much.

"Good morning Ino, Shino," I greet them cheerily.

The Aburame boy just nods at me in acknowledgement, while Ino grumbles something irritably under her breath. I focus a little on the wooden creation I hold in hand, managing to enlarge it to cover both newcomers, but my umbrella now has more the characteristics of a small dome. My fellow Genins don't seem to mind the imperfections in its shape though, at least judging by how they stare at it and at me afterwards. Even Hinata turns around enough for a quick awed glance.

Show-off anyone?

I grin and nod my head at Shino and Ino. "How are you?"

The Aburame takes his cue and lets the matter slide. "Fine, thanks," he says. "Aren't our Senseis here yet?"

I shake my head. "Kurenai-sama is, but she's spying on us from under a genjutsu." I grin mischievously turning a little. "Wouldn't you rather stand here under my umbrella, Sensei?"

A couple of seconds later, after a little burst of smoke and a quiet poof sound, where once was only the grey wall of the Hokage tower, now there is Yuuhi Kurenai, looking rather impressed.

"Thank you," she answers softly, respectfully greeted by all us Genins, as she moves under the protection of my dome. I enlarge the wood a little more to let us stay comfortable. "Though I wasn't spying on you. I was merely observing," she adds with a meaningful look at me. Considering what she just saw, she probably thinks I have a kekkei genkai related to the Mokuton and is wondering where the hell it came from. It's not true obviously; I don't possess any bloodline ability, but I discovered that it's not true that only those who have it, can control two different elements simultaneously. It's just that you need a lot more time to get the skill without one. It took me decades of very intense 'Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' training on just that, to manage it. But, of course, I would think of a kekkei genkai as well if I was her.

I just nod at the Jounin in acknowledgment as Shikamaru joins us. The umbrella is now starting to attract the attention of quite a few passersby and ninjas from the tower. I bow a little towards them and when they see Kurenai-sensei beyond the waterfall produced by my dome, they retreat back to their positions.

"I-isn't it h-heavy?" Hinata stammers probably ready to step in the rain again for the sake of my arm.

"Nah," I reassure her. "It's just wood." I knock on the handle with my free hand.

"So you're practically holding a mushroom-shaped tree with one hand," Shikamaru says knocking on the handle himself.

"Yeah, but it's hollow here." I point at the concave part of the dome above us. "Hi Shikamaru."

He just waves lazily with his hand at my greeting. I don't know how he is capable of that, but absolutely everything he does looks lazy.

We talk for a couple of minutes more, before Kiba and then Asuma join us in short order.

"What's this?" the Inuzuka asks eyeing my umbrella. He starts shaking his head forcefully causing the water on his hood to fly in all directions and eliciting complaints and grumbles from us. Akamaru on his head just barks twice in amusement.

"I propose to kick Kiba out of the umbrella," Ino says, wiping the raindrops from the boy's water-attack off her face.

"I second that," Shino agrees cleaning his sunglasses. He ignores perfectly all the stares of us Genins towards him and his not-hidden eyes, but he's quite hasty in putting them back under cover.

Asuma clears his voice. "_I_ instead propose to enter the tower and get a mission."

"I second that," Kurenai says at once and soon enough our two Senseis are urging us through the building doors and inside. Before joining my fellow Genins, I let my umbrella shrink and then disappear under the watchful gaze of the two Jounins and the guards.

We have to wait a couple of minutes before the Hokage receives us. He's studying some papers with a couple of assistants when we enter the room, but he immediately raises his gaze and smiles at us.

"Team 8 reporting for assignment," Kurenai states loudly standing at attention.

"What she said," Asuma mumbles lighting up a cigarette, "but we're Team 10."

I grin amused at that, while the others just exchange perplexed glances.

The Hokage sighs.

"Yes, Team 8, Team 10, I have quite a few D-rank missions ready for you," he says starting to rummage through a pile of sheets on his desk. "There are a flooded house to fix and a young man to escort to the market, for example. What do you say?"

"Women first," Asuma offers, nodding to Kurenai.

The young Jounin thinks it over for a couple of seconds before taking her decision. "We'll take the trip to the market, Hokage-sama."

"Yes!" I cheer, only to receive a couple of skeptic looks from my teammates.

"Then we'll take the flooded house," Asuma agrees.

After the proceedings are executed – strangely enough, it's the time necessary for the bearded ninja to smoke his cigarette – we're out of the tower and in the rain again. Team 8 soon walks away in the opposite direction than the one we have to take, Hinata shyly glancing back at me once.

"Very well," Asuma starts. "The house is in the tenth district. We'll go there running. It will be a good warm-up."

He doesn't wait for an answer and instead begins jogging away immediately. When he's sure we're following him, he starts his lesson of sort.

"Okay, anyone of you has any idea to suggest for this flooded house? Naruto? You seemed pretty happy with this assignment."

The two Genins running next to me want to hear it as well, but I certainly cannot tell them I remember completing this mission in countless of my past lives and having a lot of fun doing it, right?

"Well, first I didn't want the other assignment available," I say with a frown and that's not a lie. It's boring as hell, and the 'young man to escort' the Hokage talked about is an annoying brat I would prefer not to meet ever again. "Then I thought that with all this rain, we'll be soaked to the bone by the end of the day anyway. And on top of it..." I take a brief pause to let my enthusiastic grin make an effect, "if whoever is suffering from this flooding has decided to actually pay for some ninjas to take care of it instead of doing it himself, then the house condition is probably that of a freaking swimming pool!"

There is a moment of puzzled silence before Shikamaru speaks up.

"And that's a good reason to take this mission because..." he prompts me and I frown at him.

"Hello? I said 'swimming pool'! Water probably at waist-level-"

"That means calf-level to me," Asuma interrupts my excited speech with a jab against my height.

"You don't even know if we're talking about water here," Ino adds shuddering exaggeratedly.

"And the only thing I like about swimming pools is sleeping at their borders under the sun, thing I won't be able to do during this assignment," Shikamaru finishes lamely.

"Fine." I shrug at them with a tight smile. "Complain all you want. We'll see who was right in a couple of hours or so." I scoff haughtily at them. "You won't spoil my fun."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

We're inside the house now, precisely on the stairs leading down to the cellar. The water reaches the middle of said stairs. Roughly ten feet of water then, cloudy, tepid water almost completely still. The spoilt pipe responsible of this disaster has already been repaired by a Villager, so all we have to do is toss this water out of the house. I could use hundreds of jutsus to do it, but why should I? These missions are meant to train us Genins, no?

I watch my two teammates. Shikamaru seems annoyed and Ino is looking down at the grey waters with a horrified expression. The Nara boy has stripped down to his boxers like me, but she stubbornly refused to undress herself – except for her shoes, socks and forehead protector –, despite I told her _repeatedly_ that there was a _high_ risk of ending up in the water.

"Naruto, I hate you," she says in a harsh whisper.

"Oh come on!" I nudge her grinning. "It will be over quickly. We have these buckets, we have that window. What else could we need?"

I glance at the little window a little above the water from where we have to pass the buckets to Asuma-sensei and my two Kage Bunshins outside, who will have to empty those buckets into the big container and then bring them back to us to start again. I could have made more Kage Bunshins and more buckets, but the Hokage's son told me not to, much to my secret agreement. I decided not to declare this agreement openly when my fellow Genins launched themselves in colorful curses against the unfairness of it all. Still, my grin probably gave my opinion on the matter away.

I gather a little of my chakra on my left thumb and forefinger and manipulate it into the earth and water elements respectively. I need only a thought to mold and shape the wood I just created, and in a couple of seconds, I have a good approximation of a one-man boat at my feet. I push it gently down the stairs and to the still waters beneath, where it starts floating and swaying slightly.

"Are you sure that thing will bear your weight?" Shikamaru asks me skeptically.

I wiggle my eyebrows at him. "Let's find out."

I put a bare foot on the wood, carefully testing its solidity, and then move the other foot on board as well. The boat rocks a little at first, but then just floats forward, apparently bearing my weight. I let out a relieved sigh. I still wasn't completely sure if I had made its keel thick enough.

"Okay, it seems safe. I'll make your own now."

When I finish, Shikamaru steps tentatively on his boat, followed even more tentatively by Ino. Now, buckets in hand, I'm making my wooden creations move towards the window on the other side of the cellar. Making the water pass from that little opening will be definitely faster than carrying it through the house itself and then its yard. It's a shortcut and the boats are just a tool to get us to that shortcut. I, of course, could have simply walked on the water, but I didn't reveal this little thing to my Team yet.

"Are you ready in there?" one of my clones shouts from outside. I can see his stupid face from where he's crouched down in front of the open window.

"We're coming, we're coming," I grumble at him.

The first ten minutes go by very smoothly. We fill our buckets, give them to Asuma and my clones one by one – the window is not very large – and then we get the wooden buckets back again and repeat the process. I left my weights on the stairs with my clothes when we undressed and now I feel like I could move a mountain and reach the far away Village of the Mist with just a jump. I'm practically bursting with energy and I would work even faster if I could. Shikamaru and Ino seem to have no problem either, despite the boy's thin body and the girl's tiny arms. They're ninjas too, and they trained to become ninjas for a lot of time, but apparently, running away from angry mobs and partially living into the wild are a better way to gain a muscular body, because mine is by far more defined than theirs. Or maybe, having a Fox Demon inside your belly is to thank for that. On a side note, I caught the Yamanaka girl staring at my body thrice already and the last time, when she noticed that I had noticed, she blushed furiously, almost falling in the waters as she immediately turned around on her boat and making it rock wildly.

Anyway, we're progressing quickly now, judging by how the level of the water is visibly lowering. Sadly, the window will be out of reach soon and guess what will happen then? Bye bye shortcut! Hello long route! We postpone the loss by trying and Henge_ing_ into taller versions of ourselves, but after a while that we're doing that, the boats start rocking dangerously, not being able to bear anymore weight.

"I think we can't use the window any longer," Ino says wiping her sweated forehead.

"Yeah," I nod. "We'll have to pass from the house."

We share the _inevitable _decision with Asuma and after a couple of seconds of hesitation he agrees. He's clearly perplexed by my skills. Considering what I showed him today – and that's just a tiny portion of what I can do –, he knows I could easily get around the problem and, for example, create pillars of wood, or even stairs, leading to the useful window. But I won't do that, thank you very much.

"Take us back to the stairs, Naruto," Shikamaru says, nodding towards them.

I comply focusing a little on my creations and in the meantime my grin becomes huge.

"You know, I have complete control on these boats," I say turning around to face my teammates. "Just as I can move them forward, I could... I don't know... make them disappear, for example, with just a snap of my fingers."

"Ah ah, very funny," the Yamanaka girl says annoyed from her own boat.

"What do you think, Shikamaru? Isn't Ino ready for a peaceful, relaxing bath?" My sadistic grin is directed at her now as I raise my right hand and ready my thumb and middle finger. The boats stop moving.

She freezes on her spot and then her eyes widen fearfully. Shikamaru snickers a little. "You wouldn't dare!" she gasps.

"I'm giving you five seconds to let you undress."

"If you do it, I'll kill you!" she threatens me, but I just smirk at her.

"Five."

"Don't!" she shrieks as I make her boat rock a little for the excitement of the crowd.

"Four."

She hesitates an instant, her expression half-furious, half-horrified, before she pulls her pullover off.

"Three."

She's discarding her trousers now and screwing them into a ball with angry gestures.

"Two."

She tosses her clothes towards the stairs, succeeding in avoiding the water in between.

"One."

She's wearing only a white T-shirt now and a couple of yellow shorts with blue horizontal lines. She has nice legs for a twelve years old girl, but her breast hasn't grown much yet. Still, I'm a hormone-driven boy at the moment and the sight obtains a little reaction. Ino's eyes are fixed on mine, promising me the most terrible of pains in a very near future. I smile at her and then move my gaze on Nara Shikamaru. The smile on his face doesn't even have the time to morph into something else as I snap my fingers, making his boat shrink on itself and leaving the boy hovering for a seemingly interminable moment. Then gravity makes its job and Shikamaru drops underwater with a last incomplete...

"You bast-"

I start laughing at that and, turning towards Ino, I see her giggling a little, probably relieved. Then she notices my fingers are still in position. Snapping them isn't even necessary, but it's nice to see the light of realization enter the girl's eyes because of it.

Shikamaru comes back to the surface, right as Ino falls underneath it. He coughs out some water and looks angry at me, but there is a spark of amusement in his dark eyes as well, though probably because of Ino's expression when she's visible again. Her long blond hair are slicked to her head and face, as she takes a deep breath before spitting around, apparently disgusted, and emitting particularly funny snort-like noises. She pushes her hair away from her eyes with frantic gestures, just to find where I am, glare at me and launch herself in my direction with every ill-intent of this world.

"Narutooooo!" is her angry shout.

I, of course, cannot stop laughing and that's probably irritating her even more. She reaches me soon, spraying water everywhere and, not knowing if rock my boat or knock me down, she tries both and in the end manages to throw me off balance. Not that I made an effort whatsoever to prevent that. I even had to stifle my instincts that wanted me to use chakra under my feet and just walk on the waters.

When I come up from the water I'm still laughing and she hits my head a couple of times before snarling something I don't understand and starting towards the stairs where Shikamaru is already seated, looking rather annoyed with the top of his hair 'wilted'. The water is tepid and pleasant and I just swim slowly around in the little cellar, chuckling all the while.

"Naruto, you're an idiot! Brrr, I'm cold, I'm cold, you bastard. You're gonna pay, I'm gonna torture you and then kill you. I'm gonna-"

I listen with half an ear to Ino's incoherent babbling about my incoming death. Still, looking up at the ceiling, I cannot help the contented sigh that escapes my lips. It was a good prank. The twelve years old Naruto would have approved.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Water splashes on me from above. I could have avoided it, but why should have I bothered? Just to save my clothes from getting drenched? Not worthy, especially considering it's still raining. Besides, this means more fun.

I look up to see a smirking Ino on the house roof. I sense Shikamaru on my right and sure enough another full bucket is emptied on me by my traitorous teammate. He too is smirking.

"You both know this means war, right?" I tell them shaking the wooden bucket in my hand lightly. Water spills a little from its edges. Pity it won't end up into the container... we had almost finished.

"Hey! We're even now!" Ino exclaims outraged.

My answer doesn't come from me, but from the clone I just sent behind her.

"No, we aren't," he says, and though I can't see him from down here, I know he's grinning.

I enjoy Ino's shocked expression for a moment, before turning to a still smirking Shikamaru. His shadow tries to trap me a second later, but I just jump away from it.

"Start undressing again, Shika," I say with a grin of my own, raising my bucket a little as a girly shriek resonates from the roof. "This is all for you."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

If there is something Asuma is really good at, that's creating bonds. Not that he's a shabby teacher or ninja either, not at all. But he's simply on a league of his own when it comes to establishing or helping relationships. I cannot remember ever being in a dysfunctional or even just awkward Team of which he was the Sensei. He's present when he has to, and gives you time when you need it. He's watchful, but far from oppressive. And he's fun. That helps bonding a lot.

It isn't surprising then that we're at Mitsuruka's again, dining all together. The place is far more crowded today, thanks to the late hour. Few Villagers and lots of Shinobis are talking and laughing at their tables, enough sake in their bottles to help them loosening up without getting drunk. I received a couple of death or bewildered glares entering, but nothing out of the ordinary and my smile didn't leave its rightful place on my lips.

It's been a good day. We completed our first mission in little more than three hours and then went to train for the rest of the morning. We sparred mostly, fighting and struggling despite rain and mud, and enjoying the weather conditions way too much. After a light lunch, we started discussing the flooded-house mission. Asuma took us by a river on the training ground number 17 and made us try the water-walking exercise, which he said would have simplified our first mission and saved us from undesired baths. He also mentioned that working on it would improve our chakra control greatly. I pretended not to be able to do it already, but both the Hokage's son and Shikamaru raised their eyebrows at me when I magically succeeded on my first try. Ino seemed too busy with the exercise to notice. However, she had immediately discarded her pullover, shoes and trousers this time around.

Anyway… neither of my fellow Genins was successful, but in the early evening, Shikamaru managed three steps before sinking down, waist-deep into the water.

As my teammates struggled to maintain a constant flow of chakra under their feet, Asuma tested me on my knowledge and skill with the wood-manipulation. Let's just say I impressed him. It's not everyday you see a twelve years old capable of making good use of elemental chakra, let alone two simultaneously. The bearded ninja particularly liked the fact that I don't have to necessarily use seals to do it. He asked me if it was a bloodline ability, but I told him that to my knowledge, I don't possess any. I told him I knew the first Hokage had been the only one able to use the Mokuton here in Konoha, and I suggested with a cheeky grin that maybe I was related to the Shodai. He accepted the answer, internally 'blaming' the thing on my furry prisoner, probably. Anyway, he's obviously starting to understand how stronger than what he expected I really am and it won't take much before he really confronts me on that. It will be an interesting conversation. The funny thing is I remember having it already. Many times.

When it got dark, Asuma called a halt. The rain had subsided a little throughout the afternoon, but we still were completely drenched, not to say dirty. The Hokage's son sent us to a well-deserved shower and told us to meet him in front of Mitsuruka's in an hour, where we are now.

I'm probably halfway through the meal, having already wolfed down my donburi and proceeding to pounce on the grilled carp. It smells delicious.

"Another mission tomorrow, right Sensei?" I ask before having a taste of the cooked fish in front of me.

Asuma takes a sip from his bottle of sake before answering. "Yes, though more than one if we manage. We'll continue our training on taijutsu and chakra control in the afternoon." He pulls out his packet of cigarettes and starts toying with it. "Today we did fairly well. I think I'm getting the hang of this Sensei thing."

I chuckle a little as Shikamaru rolls his eyes.

"I think you started liking this 'Sensei thing' too much already," the Nara boy grunts irritably and the Hokage's son shrugs, smiling cheerily.

"Maybe."

"It's been fun today, you have to admit it," I say grinning and swallowing a mouthful of carp. "I found the boat ride especially entertaining."

"I liked it more when we spilt those buckets of water on you," Ino retorts smirking at me. Shikamaru just huffs, but he's clearly amused as well.

"That was fun too," I agree smiling.

Our conversation is interrupted as Mitsuruka's daughter, Karena, puts more tea and sake on our table. I thank her sweetly and she just reddens furiously, starting to grab the empty bottles with expert gestures to take them hastily back to the kitchens.

"Leave her alone!" Ino growls in a small voice, leaning towards me to not be overheard by the dark-haired girl. "Don't you see you're embarrassing her?"

I make sure my answering whisper is loud enough for Karena to catch, though still pretending that's not my intention by shielding my mouth with my hand. "But she's really cute when she blushes!"

It's the truth and I can ascertain it once more as she walks away from our table, her face beet red, the empty bottles a little imbalanced in her hands and arms.

My little stunt gets me a swat from a glaring Ino, a disgusted expression from Shikamaru and a grin from Asuma. The bearded ninja finally lights up his cigarette, his lips still twisted upwards.

"Poor Karena… she's a very nice girl, but also very shy," he says shaking his head a little. "I can introduce her to you, Naruto, though I'll probably be banned from this restaurant by Mitsuruka-san for ever."

"Nah, don't trouble yourself, Sensei," I reply with a grin of my own. "I know you enjoy this place too much and wouldn't want you to risk it for me."

"Still, I could probably arrange a torrid clandestine date for you, if you want to," he teases, trying to embarrass me, and only obtaining a blush from Ino.

"Can we stop discussing that?" the blond girl steps in harshly. She quickly fishes for a different topic. "When could we do higher missions than D-rank, Sensei?"

"Probably in a couple of months," he answers before ducking his head a little towards us. We all mirror him, sure he's about to whisper us something important. "But going back to that torrid clandestine date…"

We all let out a groan, though mine comes out more like a snort. Asuma just smiles amused, but lets the matter drop eventually.

After some time, we're out of the restaurant and in the rain again. It's a fine drizzle now and it actually feels pleasant on my head and face. The near streetlamp throws its yellow light on the puddles underneath, which almost seem to want to throw it back at it. I'm stuck in the middle of this light-fight of sort and, as a result, I have to narrow my eyes a little. I produce a wooden umbrella with my right hand and step near Ino to shelter her and get away from that annoying yellow light-show. "Want one Sensei? Shikamaru?" I ask nodding towards the wood.

They shake their heads. "No thanks, I'll be home in a flash anyway," Asuma says smirking. "See you tomorrow. Same time, same place."

He waves his hand at us before performing a seal and disappearing in a vortex of leaves.

"Now that's a useful trick, not walking on water…" Shikamaru grumbles, yawning widely. He starts walking away. "Well, I'm off too."

"Good night," I say to his retreating back and he just waves lazily at me.

I turn towards Ino with a smile and gesture her to lead the way. "Shall we?"

This time she seems less embarrassed as I walk her home.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sometimes all my life feels like a long déjà vu. But that's to be expected. I experienced so many situations in my countless existences that it's actually hard for me to find something new. Still, this is stretching things.

I'm being followed. Again. And focusing a little, I think I know by whom. He just stepped on a fallen leaf and rustled a bush on my right. He smells faintly of soap, maybe of old blood as well. His chakra signature is very weak, as if he's trying to conceal it, but he isn't doing a very good job on that. Finally, I catch a glimpse of dark hair, and pale skin and I groan slightly.

"Not again…" Stopping in the first clearing I come across, I immediately turn in his precise direction. I had hoped it was someone else. Someone stronger. I had been itching for a good fight for a while - all this incredible energy my young body seems to be bursting with needs an outlet after all - but I don't think my pursuer can really put it up against me. Still, there's no reason not to try. "Come out Sasuke."

I roll my eyes as he steps into the clearing with a rather annoyed frown on his face. He probably tried to be as careful as possible this time around, and was sure I would not detect him. I snort a little. It will take you… uhm… billions of years to successfully hide from me, kiddo. However his determined expression seems promising. Maybe I'll be lucky tonight.

"You wanted a fight yesterday, right?" I ask him, pulling out my new black jacket and tossing it at the foot of a tree nearby. It completely stopped raining now, but here in the woods, water drops every now and then from the branches above. "Well I want one today." I grin at the boy in front of me, enjoying the cool breeze on my bare arms. "What do you say?"

I receive my answer when Sasuke's jacket joins mine under the tree.

Perfect. I guess I'm lucky after all.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Author's notes – I cannot express in English how much this chapter sucked before I revised it this last few days. I'll switch to Italian for a moment to do it: era una schifezza immonda! Anyway… I hope it's decent now.


	4. Chapter 4 – Too Young, Just Pecks

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 4 – Too Young, Just Pecks

It's late at night and Sasuke is getting his ass handed to him. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it's one o'clock and the boy is about worn-out. He's lying with his back on the grass, his eyes wide and watering, his mouth open and breathing in ragged gasps. There's a darkening bruise on his jaw and a trickle of blood trailing down his nose. It would be nice to see Sakura's face when she looks at him tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll send a Kage Bunshin to assist at the scene.

The air is definitely cooler now, but the clouds that covered the sky all day are mostly gone. Tomorrow will be sunny, though the temperature will probably be lower. Still, right now I'm perfectly fine, maybe also because of the smouldering tree on my right where Sasuke's last attempt at striking back at me hit. His fire jutsu was very weak, but it's only fair to say that he was pretty beaten up already when he used it.

I look down at him. He just curled on his left side, giving me his back as he tries to find the strength to stand up again. I guess he's stuck in the 'shame phase' at the moment. It's the penultimate. He already went through 'shock', 'anger' and 'denial'- which were outlined by the words "What?", "Bastard!" and "Impossible!" respectively- and now is facing the crossroad that will probably decide what course his life is gonna take. He can either accept what happened in this clearing or hate me for it. And I don't think it's necessary to say which route is the best one for him... and for me as well. Because, despite me being the one who just kicked Sasuke's proud ass, I don't want him to hate me. Far from it.

I step forward and around his battered body, before crouching down and staring at his face. His breathing is still laboured, but his eyes seem glazed over now, as if he's lost in a past memory. It isn't so hard to guess which memory we're talking about. The twelve-year-old Sasuke has pretty much a one-track mind.

"Sasuke, stop. Stop thinking about that night," I say gently but firmly, and his gaze focuses back on the present and on me. "You have to move on."

He looks at me as if I was insane for a moment, before trying to stand up, coughing a little and then settling to lie on his back.

"You... you don't know anything," he whispers furiously, probably frightened that if he spoke louder, his voice would just crack and the treacherous tears in his eyes would fall.

"I know enough," I retort softly, still crouched in front of him. "And I know what I see. You're wasting your life, Sasuke!"

The Kyuubi cackles at me. '_And that's a bad thing, because it's soooo short! Right brat?_'

I ignore him as the Uchiha boy answers.

"I can do whatever I want with my life!" he growls through gritted teeth, pulling himself up on his elbows.

"Yes, and one morning, you will wake up and find yourself with nothing!" I'm starting to lose my calm a little. Sasuke, on the other hand, is starting to get his voice back.

The tears in his eyes are now gone, only to be replaced by determination and hate. "I don't need anything except achieving my ambition!"

"Killing Itachi is not an ambition!" I shout back at him with such force that the boy in front of me flinches back a little. Hell, how I hate when he says that... he always called it an ambition in every one of my past lives, but in reality it's far, far worse. "It's not an ambition for you. Killing him is the first thought that enters your mind when you wake up and the last one to exit it before you fall asleep. It's in your dreams, in your nightmares and in your daily reveries. You thought about it yesterday, you're thinking about it now and you'll think about it tomorrow." I stare right into his eyes and they're saying that it's true. "That's not an ambition, Sasuke. That's an obsession."

"And what if it is? What-" His voice finally cracks up and he has to stop speaking. He brings a hand up to his face, pretending to be wiping the blood from his nose.

I press on as he recomposes himself.

"If it is," I start in a softer voice, "if it really is... then what will you do once the object of your obsession is gone?"

His eyes glimmer a little just at the thought, but then my glare forces him to think beyond that. He tries to formulate an answer, but he himself understands it's not a pretty one.

"Do you see?" I ask him grimly. "Your whole life turns around your obsession. Your whole life turns around Itachi." That's a blow below the belt, I know- and his horrified expression is painful just to watch-, but it's also true. "Don't you hate that? That everything you're doing is for Itachi? That Itachi is the only thing that gives meaning to your life right now?" I let the questions hover for a couple of seconds before continuing. "I'm not saying you shouldn't want to kill him, because, frankly, if I was you, I would as well. But you can't live your life just for that."

"And what should I do?" he asks me, his voice trembling. "I cannot even beat you, the dead last, and I'm training like a fucking **obsessed** every day! How the hell can I beat him if... if I slow down and 'stop wasting my life', huh?" The sarcasm in his voice is lost in such a broken one, but how he formed quotation marks with his fingers made it clear enough.

"You're looking at it all wrong," I say annoyed. "'Stop wasting your life'," I parrot him parroting me, "doesn't mean 'stop training'. It just means 'stop doing it for the damn wrong reason'!" I take a deeper breath and try to stay calm. It's getting harder by the second. The Kyuubi isn't helping either.

'_Cut the drama already and get back to beating him to a pulp,_' he growls. '_I've had enough of this shit._'

Sasuke is searching for a comeback, but I forestall him, after a necessary '_Shut up!_' directed to the Fox.

"Life has the meaning you give it," I say, "and yours, as it is, will leave you empty and alone."

The Uchiha boy scowls at me for a moment, before averting his eyes and finally standing up, a little unsteady on his feet. I stand up from my crouched position as well, and stare at Sasuke's back as he starts to limp away. I ponder the idea of blocking him and letting him face the truth once again, but in the end, I decide not to. I think I made my point clear enough. Now it's up to him to think about it and, hopefully, _do _something about it.

When he finally reaches the woods, I speak up one last time, stopping him in his tracks. "If you want a rematch or if you want to talk about anything at all, come back to this clearing tomorrow night. You'll find me." I pause for a moment. "And maybe you'll find a friend as well."

The dark-haired boy stiffens visibly, before vanishing into the night.

I sigh tiredly as I stretch my arms and spine under the moonlight. Uchiha Sasuke may very well be the strongest ninja of his generation, but he's a total wreck on the inside. Whatever Itachi wanted to accomplish that night with his little brother, he definitely failed. It's a small miracle the Uchiha boy is still 'salvageable'.

I sigh again, shaking my head a little. Ghostly wisps of smoke are still lifting up from the tree hit by Sasuke's jutsu, but the little fire is all but a memory. It's getting a little chilly now that the excitement and effort from the fight against the dark-haired boy are long gone, so I move to my right where my discarded jacket should be. There it is, alongside Sasuke's.

I smile a little. That's another thing he'll find here tomorrow should he come.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I'm up early today. Well, earlier than usual. I don't sleep much anymore, and disturbing dreams involving various treacherous Sasukes of the past woke me up often during the night anyway. Our confrontation probably upset me more than I thought.

Out of bed, then.

I fix myself a light breakfast, take a cold shower and get dressed. I feel like my orange-self today, so I put my old jumpsuit on and pounce out of the window and onto the roof. The sky is more orange than me, though.

I jump from building to building heading towards the training grounds, the rising sun beaming at me. It's nice to see it appear from behind the Hokage monument- despite the noticeable absence of myself up there. Still, it gives my _predecessors _a more joyous aura. I ponder the idea of climbing the mountain and enjoying the sight from there, but then decide against it. It's training time.

I reach the grounds soon and wander a little in search of something inspiring, while I warm up jogging. Rivers, forests, desert-like areas, ruined buildings... I frown a little. They don't seem very appealing this morning. I'm just passing by a plain looking ground when a noise draws my attention. It seems like a flat hand hitting a tree, and it repeats two times more with little to no difference. Someone is using a training post, I think. I run in that direction in order to check the noises and discover who the early riser already up and about is.

The training posts are still out of sight, when I finally sense- and recognize at once- the chakra signature of one Hyuuga Hinata. I smile a little, guessing that my words yesterday spurred her to train some more. She usually doesn't get up this early, that sleepyhead.

I come at her from behind, though if she has her Byakugan active, that won't matter. I'm guessing she doesn't, considering I'm right behind her and she's still hitting the wooden post with strong and far between palm strikes in an exercise she needs to improve her chakra control. I grin wildly as I jump high and above her, landing silently on top of the trunk she just hit. I crouch on the post and then stay still and quiet, willing myself to be as inconspicuous as I can.

She has her eyes closed- Byakugan inactive-, as she focuses completely on her chakra flow, relaxed in her Jyuuken stance. She has also a cute pout at the moment, her lower lip sticking out slightly. Her face is a little flushed, probably more because of the cold than because of the effort, and I can sense a reasonably high amount of chakra in her palm which decreases as I observe her. That's her exercise. She'll hit the post once she is able to gather the tiniest amount of chakra possible she can at the moment. What are the odds of her succeeding if I should... I don't know... kiss that adorable pout of hers?

I shake my head slightly, still grinning. No… better try something with lower probability of causing her a heart-attack.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, whatcha doin'?"

Unsurprisingly, at the sound of my voice, the chakra gathered in her palm just spikes up for an instant, before it disperses. The girl's reaction is even more predictable, as her eyes open up and she startles badly before blushing furiously. Under the orange light of the morning sun, she becomes a good match for my jumpsuit in about two seconds.

"N-N-N-N-Naruto... I-I-I was j-just... n-nothing..." She stammers a lot, turning around to hide the red shade of her face. She would have been embarrassed even if it wasn't me to 'catch' her, but my presence certainly doesn't help.

"You were training, right?" I ask her, and when she just nods I roll my eyes. "I just had a fantastic idea!" I say excitedly, jumping down from the wooden post. "Hinata-chan! Would you like a sparring partner?"

She just stammers something incomprehensible, starting to push her forefingers together in her usual nervous gesture.

"Perfect!" I cheer, taking that as a yes. I circle around and in front of her, and she ducks her head even more. At least she doesn't turn around again. Or run away. Or pass out. I position myself in the Konoha's basic taijutsu stance at the distance of a couple of feet, and grin at her. "Let's see what you got."

She doesn't seem intent on doing anything but standing right there and squirming uncomfortably in her spot. I definitely remember this scene and I know exactly how to get the kunoichi to cooperate.

"Oh, come on," I prod her. "It's not like we didn't spar all the time at the Academy."

She visibly screws up her courage and raises her gaze on me. Sure, she averts it after a second, but that's a great accomplishment for her all the same. "I… I-it's d-different," she says in a very small voice.

"And why is that?" I ask her with a fake confused expression on my face. I know the answer already.

She struggles to speak, her forefingers pressed together near the snapping point. "We're alone now."

Her voice is barely more than a whisper, and if I didn't already know she was about to say that, I probably wouldn't have heard her words. Still, that's not the case, and my confident grin- the one Hinata always loved so much- appears on my lips.

"Well, no problem then. I'll take care of it!" I brag pointing my right thumb at my chest. The girl's face reddens even more as I fake a concentrated expression and form the familiar cross-shaped seal with my hands.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" I shout with needless force and solemnity… needless for me. I'm sure Hinata appreciates them both.

Around us, there is an orange horde of Narutos now, laid out in a circle. Under the early sunlight, it's almost painful just to look at it.

"Henge!" I shout- again, more for the imposing effect of the scene than for necessity-, and immediately all the clones disappear behind a curtain of smoke- unnecessary smoke as well but… whatever.

Soon enough, we are surrounded by Iruka-sensei and our old Academy class, looking at us with various degrees of interest. Knowing them like I do, it's easy for me- or in this case, for my Kage Bunshins- to perfectly impersonate most of them. They even start interacting with each other, commenting on us or laughing good-naturedly, some of them climbing the wooden posts and sitting on them for a better view. I smile a little as an incredibly accurate Sasuke glares at me before turning to his usual brooding. That clone of mine surely is talented.

Hinata is gaping at me and at them alternatively, and she actually activates her Byakugan to check that they really are just henged Bunshins. My grin widens a little more.

"Done! Now it's just like back at the Academy," I tell the white-eyed kunoichi cheerily. "I've always had a lot of fun when I sparred with you."

She just looks at me hesitantly, not sure if she can believe it or not. Fortunately, Byakugan can't really tell lies- not _my _lies anyway-, because what I just said isn't exactly true.

The thing is that during every one of our _past_ matches, Hyuuga Hinata simply beat the crap out of me. Sure, that happened in my Academy days- millions of years ago, considering that the Kyuubi drags me back in time always _after_ those days-, but I remember it with no difficulty at all, because it happened with frightening regularity.

Those sparring sessions were the only occasion where Hinata could look at me without blushing. They were also the origin of her crush on me. Hinata herself told me that in many of my past lives.

Her strikes always hit, mine were always parried. There was no match between her perfect Jyuuken style and my horrible basic one, and I was on the ground almost as often as I was on my feet. And still, I kept on standing up to try again. And again. And again. She thought I was so brave, so strong, in those moments, as she watched me fight with such determination, that she couldn't help but continue to hit me, to parry my punches, to toss me to the ground. Her matches against me were definitely her best ones- and probably my worst ones too- and for that exact reason, we were often paired together by my hateful Senseis who made sure to compliment the Hyuuga heir plenty. She always felt terrible afterwards, mortified to no end, but despite the fact that I complained all the time, I never took my frustration out on her, and instead, I respected her for it and for not rubbing my weakness in. Of course, not being one of Sasuke's fangirls helped her in my eyes too.

Anyway, I cannot really say I enjoyed our sparring, so what I just told her is a lie indeed, but she seems to accept my words now, as she stammers a reply.

"M-me too," she says looking down, and she too is lying on this matter, because she certainly didn't have _fun_ during our matches. More like a twisted fascination...

I glance briefly at the Iruka-clone and he takes his cue from that.

"Okay. Hinata, Naruto, get ready," he says and I take my fighting stance once again.

The dark-haired kunoichi watches our old Sensei and class for a couple of seconds, before turning towards me, her eyes low as she hesitantly assumes her Jyuuken stance. She's clearly torn between feeling mortified and excited. In some of my past lives, she revealed to me that during our Academy days, she waited for our sparring sessions with bittersweet fervour, and no matter how much she tried not to, she couldn't help but enjoy the little time we spent together.

I guess this time won't be any different, judging by how her eyes focus and activate, and by how her body straightens up visibly.

Perfect.

"Begin!"

We all grin a little- the Bunshins slipping out of character for a moment- as a little smile appears on Hyuuga Hinata's face when she starts her attack.

Still, this time I have no intention of getting my ass kicked, and I swiftly parry her first two strikes, avoiding her chakra-enhanced fingers trying to close the tenketsus on my forearms. I duck to my left as her right hand tries to hit me on my shoulder, and I punch her lightly on her side, clearly anticipating her block. This is the very first time I managed to hit her... in her memory of course. In mine... well, let's just say I did some things far worse than that...

She jumps back, losing a little of her composure in her shocked state, and looks at me with her Byakugan eyes wide. I just wink at her, enjoying the following blush that creeps on the creamy skin of her neck and face.

I charge at her this time, and pumping a little of chakra in my legs' muscles, I quickly enter her guard, avoiding the slashing motion of her right hand. Grabbing her wrists, and blocking another palm strike and a surprising- not to say amusing- knee strike aimed at my crotch, I just stand there for a couple of seconds, clearly in her personal space, while gently holding her arms above her head, and with no apparent intention of doing anything else. Her eyes are fixed on mine, stunned and awed, the wrinkled marks on their sides pulsing faintly as chakra flows underneath. When I move my head forward a little, a breath catches in her throat, and her white eyes widen even more. Our faces are at not more than an inch from one another now, and on hers is remarkable the absence of the red colour. I think she's still too stunned to even blush at the moment.

"Very good, Hinata-chan," I tell her softly with a grin. "But you'll want to start struggling to free yourself, before Iruka-sensei and the others think badly of the situation."

She complies almost immediately, embarrassed and probably too dazed to even remember the real identities of our little audience. When she tries to hit my jewels with her knee again, I jump a couple of feet back, satisfied by the reddening of her cheeks.

"I didn't know the groin-hit was a speciality of the Jyuuken style," I tease her. "But maybe it's just yours, and Iruka-sensei and the others should really think badly of the situation."

She just blushes more at that, averting her eyes before resuming our sparring match. Hopefully, she'll be (un)comfortable enough to at least stammer something in answer by the time we stop fighting.

And according to the Kyuubi, we should stop fighting soon.

'_Just fuck her already,_' the Demon growls at me, and I internally roll my eyes, mildly annoyed by his unhelpful and idiotic comments.

'_Too young,_' I reply, ducking under one of Hinata's arms and blocking the other.

'_That didn't stop you in the past,_' he says, and I can picture him smirking. '_I remember clearly all those times you took this shy bitch into the woods and just slammed your little-_'

I've heard enough.

Shutting the Fox down, I swirl around, dodging a palm strike and countering with a foot sweep that sends the girl to the ground. I don't really need to listen to someone talking about my sexual exploits... especially if that someone talks from a giant Demon's perspective. I offer a hand to Hinata and she takes it after a moment of blushing hesitation. She also holds it a little longer than what was really necessary. It's a good thing that the Fox can't watch at the moment. That horny bastard is more annoying than ever when it comes to sex. Sex and blood. It's not surprising that he simply loves those lives when they make me Anko's apprentice.

I grimace a little, ducking under Hinata's palm strike. I have to admit I like those lives too.

The sparring session goes on for roughly half an hour. Hinata is good, very good for one her age. You can clearly see she got personal training from the best Hyuuga fighter out there. Her form is just perfect, and her blocks very well timed. Hiashi-san did a good job. If only her self-confidence wasn't so awful... I let her hit me more than a few times to help her build up on that, but generally I just give her some pointers here and there, shocking her a lot when I display a good knowledge of the Jyuuken style. A couple of times I let the Iruka-clone do the talking, but it was really the same thing, and Hinata, of course, knew it.

When we stop fighting, she's flushed and winded, while I'm just breathing a little harder than normal. She also seems very disappointed in herself, and doesn't know what to think about my cheering words and smile.

"I have to go now," I say, dispelling my Kage Bunshins. "You were really good, Hinata-chan! You said you couldn't beat Kiba and Shino, but I find it hard to believe." I walk towards her as she blushes furiously. "Try and use the advice 'Iruka-sensei' gave you today. You'll win for sure!"

I actually believe it. Except for Sasuke, she was the best at taijutsu back at the Academy, at least technically speaking. Her self-confidence issues were what always got in the way. We're not in the same Team in this life, so I won't be able to try and encourage her much. But I'll do what I can. Hmmm... maybe I should start by pushing her a little more right now...

I reach for her shoulders with my hands, a gentle smile on my face. Her body first stiffens and then relaxes completely at my touch, as the colour on her face turns from red to purple quickly. I'm a little shorter than her, so she has to duck her head a lot to hide her face. Her chin is almost touching her breastbone.

"Next time you'll fight your teammates, know that I'll be rooting for you," I tell her quietly. "Win for me, Hinata-chan."

Then, bowing my head towards her, I let my lips brush against her flaming cheek in a gentle peck, before releasing her shoulders and jumping away at high speed. When I reach the edge of the training ground, I turn my head long enough to make certain she didn't pass out before continuing to run towards my apartment.

I grin a little, thinking about what I just did. A peck on the cheek...

Maybe for the first time in this life, I feel like the awkward little kid I should actually be. And it feels nice too.

I shake my head slightly as I jump on the first visible roof of the Village, grinning like an idiot all the while.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It's late afternoon and Asuma and I are sparring on the river of the training ground number 17. It's a good exercise used mostly by Chuunins. Fighting and walking on water at the same time is a good way to improve your chakra control and concentration, though neither Asuma nor I need it.

The Jounin ducks under my roundhouse kick and counters with a series of punches and a low kick in the mix. I block the former and avoid the latter, but I'm forced to step backwards a few times, as the Hokage's son tries to take the initiative. I take it back by stopping suddenly and trying to slip inside his guard with a palm strike aimed at his chest. Still, he's not a Jounin for nothing, and he stops my blow with both of his hands before flipping backwards a few feet. We just stand still for a couple of seconds, grinning at each other, before going at it again. We've been so relentless that the bearded ninja didn't even have the time to light up a second cigarette after he finished the first one.

We're thirty minutes into this game of sorts now, but neither of us is trying to beat the other. Well, not in the most common sense anyway. We're both trying to win, that's for sure. But according to an unspoken rule that popped up a couple of minutes after the start, the goal of this game is for him to trick me, and for me to not be tricked, in using my real skills.

The first time, Asuma took me completely by surprise. We were sparring lightly, both of us downplaying our abilities to Genin level, the level which I thought Asuma expected me to fight at. I discovered I was wrong when after a couple of slow, predictable punches, his left foot came up much faster with the help of his chakra. I reacted on my instincts and pumped a tiny amount of my own chakra into my right arm to parry the blow, but my mind realized the mistake when it registered the knowing grin on the Jounin's face. Yes, I was a lot faster than what a Genin should have been with that block.

So that's how it started.

I just huffed at him at the time, before he resumed his attack switching back to 'Genin mode'. The second time he tried that stunt, I focused on not reacting at all, and he had to stop his fast palm strike at the last moment not to hurt me. I just raised an eyebrow at him, offended that he thought he could trick me the same way twice. He apparently learned his lesson, because a couple of minutes later- minutes during which he hadn't tried anything else-, he started a more relentless attack that forced me to run backwards. My instincts took over again when, stepping on the river waters, they simply made me use chakra to walk on them. Sadly, that too could not be considered normal for someone who just made Genin. I cursed internally at that, pondering the idea of letting myself fall underwater on the second step, and blaming my slip on just luck. But the smirk on Asuma's face made me sceptic about the usefulness of that move. So we just continued fighting on the river, and his next two tries failed miserably, giving me the lead in this little game.

It's 3-2 for me now, and my smirk is widening by the second. Still, Asuma is smirking as well, so maybe he has a trump card up his sleeve. Better be careful.

I wait for him to attack, breathing hard. Sure, I'm not using my full capabilities- not by a long shot- but paradoxically, that makes it worse. Fighting like this weighs almost completely on my body, and unfortunately, my body cannot really be on par with Sensei's at the moment. It's good training anyway, especially considering I increased my weights a little after lunch.

I edge a few feet away from my two teammates who are practicing the water-walking exercise and don't really care for us fighting around them. With the corner of my eye, I can see Shikamaru standing on the river in his boxers, eyes closed, needing every ounce of concentration and calm he possesses just to stay still on them. He has never sunk down today yet, but he can manage only a step every once in a while. Ino too needs every ounce of concentration and calm she possesses, but more for not killing someone or venting at the river than anything else. Fortunately, she chose a shallow spot for the exercise, so only her bare feet and ankles are underwater at the moment. Still, the frustration is getting to her, judging by her twitching left eye. She didn't make any improvement yet.

I bring my attention back to Asuma as he comes at me at his usual speed of today- fast for a Genin, but not even half as much as he really could. I swat his first blow aside and block his second one. Grabbing him by the sleeve and pulling him towards me, I try to kick him in the stomach, but he just twists sideways, letting my foot brush slightly against his belly. Immediately, his knee shoots up to try and hit my overextended limb, and if I wasn't so experienced it would have hit me, probably. Instead, I succeed in bending my leg, pulling it back a little, and Asuma's right knee meets the sole of my left foot a second later. I let go of his sleeve as he tries to stab my forearm with his index and middle fingers, and then I push with my foot still on his knee in order to fly backwards and away from his following punch.

He's immediately upon me again, not letting me breathe again. _He_ is fresh as a daisy, as well as grinning like a madman. Wait a couple of months, Asuma, and then we'll see which one of us is the one winded.

We continue like this for five more exhausting minutes during which the bearded ninja does nothing more than just push me to my physical limits. I'm actually gasping and wheezing now through my burning lungs, and the muscles on my legs are aching a little because of all this running and kicking. The frenzy of the 'battle' brought us back where Ino and Shikamaru are practicing the water-walking exercise, and a quick glance at them, behind my Sensei's shoulders, informs me that nothing changed. The young Yamanaka's eye is still twitching dangerously and the Nara boy managed just a couple of steps in these last ten minutes, probably concentrating more on not falling underwater than on actually walking. Meanwhile, I have to dodge the umpteenth series of punches, parry the last two and then jump slightly to avoid a fast foot sweep.

Fluid. That's the first adjective that comes to mind watching Sarutobi Asuma's taijutsu. That's probably the only thing Maito Gai could envy him.

The Hokage's son feints a left hook and tries to hit me with a right palm strike, but my block comes up barely in time. Still, his left hook comes at me eventually, and I'm forced to jump back to avoid it. I'm starting to lose ground and precision, and he knows it. I'm not countering his attacks anymore, leaving him the initiative, and he'll try and take advantage of it shortly. The sky is also starting to darken above us.

He charges at me after a second of pause, and I understand that he's up to something a little too late, when he's already almost upon me. His dark eyes flash mischievously for an instant, before he starts falling underwater, probably to grab me from down there. There's no time to jump away or even to step back, and I already feel his fingers brushing against my bare feet, ready to drag me down. His move is so sudden that I can only react on my instincts.

Again.

I let my right foot sink underneath the surface of the river, and then chamber a kick with all my strength, freeing me from Sensei's hold, and pumping a bit of chakra in my leg and foot. The water resistance can do nothing against the power of my blow, and the result is first a ripple and then a huge wave rising from in front of me and shooting forward at high speed. Asuma is caught in the middle of it and tossed backwards; he's forced to release his hold on my other foot. I hear a stifled curse and a light gasp, and when the water finally subsides, I'm treated to one of the most amusing sights I've ever seen in all my lives, one I can contemplate as I finally breathe again.

Asuma-sensei is sprawled on the shore, coughing and sputtering with frightening forcefulness. Well, I'm only guessing by the sound of it, considering that all I can see of him is his rear. Shikamaru is still standing on the river with his eyes closed, soaked to the bone and annoyed to the toes of his feet, judging by the deep scowl on his face. It's surprising his chakra flow wasn't disrupted by the... uhm... distraction. He seems to be having some problems at the moment, though. Ino is completely drenched as well, and water is dripping from her long blond hair. She's standing with her mouth open, holding her shoulders rather stiffly, her hands clenching and unclenching slowly but repeatedly. Uh oh. That's not a good sign. Not at all. I'm predicting an explosion in three, two, one...

"Narutooooooo!" she shouts with a deep, rumbling voice very unlike her. "I'll kill you!"

I make sure to edge away from the shore and stay in safer waters... literally.

"Ino, it was an accident! I swear!" I say trying not to sound too amused. "I would never drench you... again."

Her eyes tell me that was not the right thing to say. "That's it! I'm gonna skin you alive before killing you very painfully!"

"There's no need to take it this badly!" I reply trying to sooth her a little. "Shikamaru isn't reacting like that. See?"

The deepening of Shikamaru's scowl tells me that was not the right thing to say either.

In the meantime, Asuma righted himself and stood up. Now he's standing next to Ino, trying to calm her down, though he stops his soothing speech long enough to toss a victorious smirk at me. He tied our little game, that bastard... I huff a little, annoyed, while noticing that Shikamaru's concentration is wavering dangerously, and so is the chakra under his feet, consequently. As much fun as it would be to see him dropping into the river again, I should really try and get him to forgive me, instead of giving him another reason for wanting me dead. So, much to his initial shock, I lift him up circling my right arm around his waist, and with a single jump, I take him onto the solid ground near Asuma and Ino. My legs protest a little, but I ignore them, knowing that in some minutes they'll be back to normal, thanks to the healing powers of the Demon inside of me. As I put him down, the Nara boy grumbles something irritably under his breath, his death glare trying to bore a hole in me. I just smile apologetically at him and he just grumbles some more. Taking one of the towels Asuma brought us today, he starts drying his hair and body.

"You could have sparred somewhere else!" Ino is telling Asuma, probably in answer to something he said. "We need to concentrate if we want to get that damn exercise down!"

"We're not as _lucky_ as Naruto to succeed on our first try," Shikamaru huffs, stressing the word 'lucky' to take a jab at my poor yesterday's excuse on why I managed to walk on the water immediately.

"Yeah," Ino agrees turning a little toward us. "And you're not giving us any advice or anything else, except for 'maintain a constant chakra flow under your feet'!"

Her passable impersonation of Asuma is quite amusing, but I think better than letting her know that. She's clearly incensed and rather frustrated- maybe not ready to kill me anymore, but I don't have the littlest intention of enraging her further.

"Well, that's the only advice I can give you," Asuma says shrugging and lighting up a cigarette with a little gesture of his hand. It makes for a strange sight, seeing him doing that while dripping water from practically everywhere, but he doesn't seem to care about that anyway.

"And it's a useless one!" Ino shouts, red-faced.

Their bantering continues for a little while, as Asuma tries to go into details, but that's really not a simple thing to explain with words. I only listen with half an ear as my eyes and mind wander almost on their own over to the Yamanaka girl.

She's wiping the water off her arms with a towel at the moment, but her white T-shirt is hopelessly soaked, thus showing the blue bra underneath. Water drops are trailing down suggestively on her nice legs, following the lean curves of her smooth skin and muscles. There's something wild in the way her wet hair falls on her forehead and shoulders, and the single drop lingering on her full, lower lip feels very inviting to me, right about now...

'_Not too young this time, eh?_'

The Kyuubi's growling chuckle frees me from my dazed state eventually, but hell! Stupid hormones... I got to love to be young again, but sometimes... Did you notice how my eyes stared first at her chest and legs, and only then at her face? Yes? Right. That was the hormones' doing. Yes, it was.

I ignore the Demon and wait patiently as Asuma continues his (clumsy) explanation. When he stops, seemingly uncertain on what to say next, I speak up quickly.

"With your permission, Sensei, I would like to try and help Ino out with the water-walking exercise."

My formal tone gets me a wary look from the Hokage's son, who watches me intently for a long time before nodding his head.

"Okay, Naruto," he then says in his deep voice, gesturing at the girl.

I turn towards the blond kunoichi with a little smile on my face. If there was wariness in Asuma's eyes, then Ino's are simply scared shitless.

"Don't worry, Ino," I say, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "I won't hurt you."

She gulps a little, her eyes shifty. "I was more worried about a prank."

I smile at that, actually grinning a little. "I won't prank you either. You have my word."

She doesn't seem entirely convinced, but cedes in the end. I step up to her and raise my hands in front of me, palms towards her, ignoring Sensei and Shikamaru watching curiously.

"Put your hands against mine."

"What?"

"Your hands," I repeat gently, trying to stay serious in front of her puzzled expression. "Against mine."

She just looks at me for a couple of seconds, before tossing a lost look at Asuma. The bearded ninja shrugs his shoulders, taking a drag from his cigarette, and the girl finally raises her hands, putting them hesitantly against mine. Her cool fingertips reach me first, followed by the rest, and I can feel some tiny wet spots where the water I accidentally sprayed on her hasn't dried yet. It's a pleasant sensation.

"Relax," I tease her, grinning at seeing her this nervous. "It's not a perverted thing."

She blushes furiously at that, averting her eyes, but doesn't take her hands back.

"Good," I continue more seriously. "Now I'm going to concentrate a little bit of chakra, so don't freak out."

She just nods, and I proceed with what I said as slowly as I can. She stiffens a little when she feels my chakra slither on her palms, but I continue anyway until I gather a good amount to begin with.

"Close your eyes and relax," I tell her in a small voice. She needs to be far calmer if we want this thing to work. "Don't worry," I add noticing her hesitation. "Nothing will happen to you."

Her eyelids close eventually, hiding the bright green underneath them. Her shoulders slump down a little, her legs splay slightly, and she exhales a breath she didn't even notice she was holding. Her chest starts rising and falling slowly and regularly, but I try not to pay too much attention to that...

"I'm increasing the amount of chakra now," I warn her, but she doesn't react at all when I do it. "What do you feel?"

She takes another deep breath, letting it out slowly. Her right thumb brushes a little on mine once. "Your hands are warm, and... pleasant... like basking at the sun. The... energy... is wrapping around my hands," she all but whispers. "It's a little like when I use a jutsu... but longer... and... strange."

"Correct," I tell her. "It's strange because chakra has a different feel for each person- and this one you're experiencing is mine-, and it's longer because when we perform a jutsu, we usually channel it into a seal and then expel it through it immediately."

"Hmmm," she just moans noncommittally.

I refrain from chuckling and just go on.

"Now Ino, I want you to try and block out everything but the feel of my chakra on your hands. Focus on how it flows slowly over your skin, and on how far it reaches. Try to memorize everything you can about it."

We stay in silence for a whole minute after that. She's very still, only moving slightly her thumbs every once in a while. Her expression is relaxed and serene as the cool wind caresses her face, stirring her hair gently. I sense Asuma and Shikamaru behind me, as they observe the scene intently, not daring to produce the littlest of noises.

"Ino?" I call quietly, but she doesn't answer. Maybe she actually relaxed too much now. "Ino?"

"Yes," she says quickly, too quickly... like when you wake up from a nap you weren't supposed to take. "I think I got it, yes."

"Uhm, okay," I comment lamely. If my hands were free, then I would probably be scratching my neck uncomfortably right about now. "Are you sure?"

She nods her head slowly, her eyes still closed.

"Good. Then it's your turn now," I tell her. "I'm going to take my chakra back, and you are to try and reproduce what I just did, okay?"

I start gathering my energy back, letting it flow up in my forearm and in my main coils again, leaving only the normal amount behind. The blond girl frowns slightly at the loss, but doesn't react in any other way. We stay like that for a couple of seconds, her hands warm against mine.

"Try to gather chakra yourself now," I say in a small voice again. "Start like you usually do when you're about to perform a jutsu, but then try to remember what it felt like to have the chakra simply flow there." She bites on her lower lip in concentration. "When you're ready, Ino. We are in no hurry."

It takes her a couple of minutes, but she succeeds eventually. Her chakra is flowing fluidly and constantly now, and its amount is just about as much as I had used, if a little less. Her pleased smile is blinding, as she opens her eyes to stare at me in what I would describe as childish happiness. That kind of happiness is the purest emotion I've ever stumbled upon.

"I did it!" she all but shouts in a high-pitched voice, and I chuckle a little, happy for her.

"Yes, you did. Now, close your eyes. We've not finished yet."

She complies, still smiling brightly.

"Gather your chakra back. Slowly. And don't lose your focus. You have to remember what it feels like when it flows back too."

She does that quickly, too quickly for my tastes, and I have her repeat the exercise again. This time her chakra control is perfect. Just perfect. I compliment her and she actually giggles slightly.

"Don't get too excited," I reprimand her lightly. "That was the easy part. Now you'll have to do that with your feet."

She sobers a little at that, and then starts following my instructions seriously, laying down with her back flat on the grass and relaxing. I pull off the higher half of my orange jumpsuit to move more comfortably in just my black T-shirt. Passing by a bored-looking Shikamaru and an impressed-looking Asuma, I plop down near Ino's legs and reach for one of Sensei's towels. It seems clean enough, and I start wiping soil and blades of grass off her feet, taking her a little by surprise. I grab her left ankle gently, letting my hand slide up to her soft calf. Lifting it up slightly, I start cleaning her heel with the towel. Her skin is cool and silky under my touch, and I find myself tracing my fingertips on it in unnecessary gestures. A quick glance at Ino's face tells me she's blushing furiously with her eyes closed, pretending to be trying to relax. When the foot is clean, I try to be more professional with the other one. Damn hormones…

When we're ready, we repeat the previous process, only this time with her feet. I'm using my hands again obviously, because it would be more than a little impractical- though probably amusing- if I were to use my feet as well. The scene that follows feels vaguely familiar, as I put her feet on my lap, and position my palms against the soles. I probably did something similar in one of my past lives, but I can't really remember with whom.

It takes her five minutes this time to get the feel of my chakra, and more than ten to partially succeed in the exercise herself. I let her repeat it three more times, before finally conceding that she's ready, and making her try on the river. The first attempt fails completely- maybe because of her too excited state- and she ends up with her feet and ankles underwater again, but her second one is perfectly successful. She's standing steadily on the river now with a wide grin on her face, cheered a little by a satisfied Asuma. It'll probably take a week to get her to walk on it without problems, and a couple more before she's comfortable enough to actually fight on it, but it's a huge improvement in less than half an hour. I convince her to not overexert herself, and she quickly steps back on solid ground, admitting to feel more than a little drained. Her chakra reserves need improving as well.

Asuma's nod in my direction has more the appearances of a bow, when all Team 10 is gathered on the shore again. "That was enlightening, Naruto."

"Thank you, Sensei," I say, smirking at the young Nara next to him. "We could always do the same thing with Shikamaru."

The Hokage's son turns towards the uncomfortable boy, grimacing a little.

"I can do the thing with your hands," he tells him in his deep voice, "but I'm not going anywhere near your feet."

"I wouldn't let you anyway!" Shikamaru answers, a little red-faced.

Ino snorts and I give my male teammate my slyest smile.

"And would you let me instead, hmmm?" I ask him. A quick Sexy no Jutsu leaves Asuma with wide eyes and a trickle of blood under his nose. Shikamaru's eyes widen too, but the blood is noticeably absent. Yep, he hasn't hit puberty yet. There's no way a naked Naruko could elicit only wide eyes from a hormonal teenager. And I even used smoke with the jutsu in order to make the transformation less shocking and more effective. Yep, no puberty yet.

Ino's right fist hammers down on my head, leaving me on the ground as I transform back. Ouch. That hurt. The Yamanaka girl is beet red and glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

"Idiot!" she shrieks. "If you ever do that in front of me again, I'll… I'll… I'll kill you!"

She storms off after that, not listening to my chuckling apologies and teasing. I pester her some more as we all get dressed again. The sky is dark now, and Asuma declares the end of today's training. No Mitsuruka's today- for he has a meeting with the Hokage-, so he just sends us home, but we Genins decide to dine together all the same- though it took a little prodding on my part to convince Shikamaru. Before we can part ways from our Sensei, the Jounin takes me aside. I follow him away from my teammates under Ino's confused look and Shikamaru's knowing one. I too have a pretty good guess of what Asuma wants.

"What's up Sensei?" I ask him lightly when we stop on the other side of the river.

The bearded ninja looks down at me with a serious expression. He stays in silence for a little while before answering.

"Naruto, tomorrow morning I want you to come and meet me here, an hour earlier than our usual."

"Why?"

He regards me coolly for a moment. "So we'll have a serious talk about your skills and abilities."

A talk... right. That's why the meeting is set here on a training ground, isn't it? I frown a little, pretending not to notice and waving my hand dismissively. "There's not really much to say," I lie.

"Naruto, don't underestimate me," he says, apparently a little offended. "I'm a Jounin and I've been for many years. I've been in a lot of fights and dangerous situations during my career as a Shinobi of the Leaf, situations that made me a good observer and judge of both human and ninja behaviour." He pauses. "And _observing_ you, I _judge_ that you're a lot stronger than what you're letting on. It's already visible in the little things, like how you stand or how you pay attention to things an untrained mind wouldn't pay attention to. And as those little things get bigger, it becomes glaringly obvious that there's even more to it underneath."

I can't help but grin a little at that. Praising me is a good enough way to pry my secrets out of me, but this particular secret can be quite stubborn in not escaping my lips.

"It just comes natural to me. Fighting, I mean," I tell Asuma, shrugging my shoulders. I glance at my teammates who are speaking to each other, trying not to show their interest in this conversation. "It probably has something to do with the Kyuubi inside of me," I admit quietly, and since the bearded ninja doesn't budge in the slightest, I can safely say he already knew I knew. I grin a little more. "Or maybe I really am related to the legendary Shodai Hokage!"

Asuma huffs a little at my cheekiness. "No matter who your relatives were, or how much talented you are, some things can only be learnt through training and experience, and the Ninja Academy can't really offer what I saw in you."

To give the props where props are due, the man clearly knows his job. He needed only three days to pick on my little act- probably even less. But in my defence, I have to say it's difficult to hide habits engraved in me since millions of years ago, especially considering who I had to hide them from. Besides, I never intended to hide all that much after all.

"And what did you see in me?" I question him, intrigued. Let's see how in-depth he went in his assessment.

"Too much, if you ask me," he says simply, smirking a little at my prying. "And I think that all I did was scratch at the surface."

I roll my eyes at that, deciding not to comment.

"Seriously, Naruto. It's important for a Team to know what its members are capable of," he continues. "I'm at a loss at the moment to what to expect from you, and that can be really dangerous during a mission. It can corner us in sticky situations or prevent us from getting out of them. It can lead to unreliable information and flawed tactics." He stops for an instant, looking intensely in my eyes. "It can get one of us killed."

I get his point, of course, and I had planned on revealing my real abilities to my Team eventually- meaning when things got more serious- like I almost always did in my past lives. I'm a little miffed that he called me on that so soon. I was really enjoying my life as a more or less normal Genin. Still, I can't help but be glad of having Sarutobi Asuma as my Sensei. He's simply a great man. Even letting aside his likeability and unpredictability- which are maybe the biggest pros from my point of view-, he's both professional and caring, reliable and considerate. He always puts his friends and teammates in first place, and he's loyal to Konoha to boot. What else could I want?

I nod gravely at him, before starting to walk towards my fellow Genins. Halfway there, I turn around again, my eyes glimmering mischievously.

"You better bring your old glasses tomorrow," I say, before finally joining Ino and Shikamaru. Few people know that the young Asuma used to wear glasses for reading back at the Academy. The Hokage's son showed them to me a couple of times in the past. They're fairly awful.

The Jounin strongly suspects what is coming, but he asks it anyway. "Why?"

I turn towards him one last time, a fierce grin appearing on my lips. "Because if you don't, you probably won't believe your eyes!"

I chuckle a little at my own stupidity, before starting to walk away, as my new/old friends watch me interrogatively.

"What was that about?" Ino asks.

"Nothing." I don't need them to know about tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't tell them about my real skills for a long time, but I'll let Asuma have the last say in the matter. I change the topic quickly. "So, where are we going to eat? I know of a fantastic ramen stand and I really want you to meet the owner and his daughter. They're awesome people!"

Shikamaru frowns slightly at that, almost spitting the next words, disgusted. "Yeah, and I'm sure this _daughter_ has beautiful chocolate eyes and a very pretty blush."

"Actually, she has," I say grinning mischievously at the boy. "But that's not the point at all. The point is they make the best ramen in all Konoha, and on top of that, they are nice people. Come on! I promise you'll like them!"

Shikamaru grumbles something under his breath, before the usual bored expression slips on his face again. "Fine," he agrees with a lazy gesture of his hand. "Works for me."

Ino instead lets out a low groan. "I should go home and take a shower," she whines taking a lock of wet hair between her fingers. "Look at me! Look at my hair!"

She actually forces us to stop and look at her and her hair, but while Shikamaru just rolls his eyes, I regard her intently. She still has that wild look at the moment that comes off as very appealing to me.

"Ino-chan," I tell her in a quiet voice, staring into those big, blue eyes of hers, "you're just beautiful."

The young girl freezes on her spot at that, her lock still curled around her fingers, as I start walking again. I don't need to glance back to know she's blushing. The slightly disgusted frown on my other teammate's face is proof enough. I wait a couple of seconds before turning around, only to find her in the exact same position as before.

"Well? Are you coming?"

She joins us again when we exit the training grounds and reach the streets. Seeing her little shy smile, I don't think she'll complain about her look anymore tonight.

Konoha's Villagers are still wandering around and inside the shops, carrying packages with them. Loud cries and shouts can be heard coming from the open market nearby, signalling that closing time is approaching. At the end of the day, that place is always thrice as frantic as at any other time. I worked there in a couple of my past lives, as a handyman for a fisherman just moved in Konoha from Sunagakure. That poor guy had the misfortune of being born in that sandy place with an unhealthy passion for fishing. He tried to sate that passion here in the Land of Fire, and he succeeds most of the time. I could pay him a visit tomorrow, though he won't remember me, of course.

On our way to Ichiraku's, we talk a little about today's missions and training. Ino seems very excited about her improvements with the water-walking exercise, and is eager to give it another go as soon as possible.

"Maybe I'll try it on my little swimming-pool tonight," she starts as we take a shortcut through an almost deserted playground. There's only a bunch of little kids playing with a ball not too far away. "I could ask Dad to fill it just a little- we empty it every time after the end of summer-, but I'll probably freeze without that warming jutsu Asuma used on us. But perhaps Dad knows it too... yeah, I bet he does. What do you think?"

Shikamaru doesn't seem intent on answering, so I do it, smiling just a little at her fast monologue of sorts. "I think you should rest instead. You worked pretty hard today, and tomorrow won't be any different probably. Don't overexert yourself. You'll be able to try the exercise again tomorrow."

"I'm already tired of that stupid water-walking," Shikamaru grumbles, letting a little of his frustration out. "I can't figure out how to faster shift my chakra from one foot to the other to actually walk." Nara Shikamaru can't figure out something? Now, that's new! "I can only stand still like an idiot, and it seems like I'm not improving at all."

"That's not true," I say with firmness. "You're certainly improving- and a lot too. It's just that you're still not good enough to walk on the water. Here..." I approach a tree nearby and start climbing it calmly. When I'm almost on top, I stand still for a couple of seconds and then jump down. My teammates are watching me a little impressed. At little distance, the kids who were playing around are now watching me and my head-protector with something akin to awe. I predict a good number of children will enrol at the Ninja Academy in a few years. I wink at them, making them scatter away giggling, before turning to my fellow Genins again. "This is the basic exercise on chakra control. We could say it's an easier version of the water-walking one. You say you're not improving, but try and climb the tree yourself, hmm?"

Shikamaru watches me sceptical and a little nervous too, before frowning slightly and joining me by the tree. He starts the exercise with a little more forcefulness than necessary, stomping down on the wooden trunk, but his chakra control is accurate enough that he succeeds anyway. He walks up and down the tree with a satisfied expression on his face, which actually makes me chuckle.

"See?" I say pleased, as Ino replaces him up the tree. "Do you think you could have done that before all the training with the water-walking? Of course not. Skipping this basic exercise was a smart move on Sensei's part. It made you improve at a faster rate than you would have by following the most common schedule." The Yamanaka girl seems simply ecstatic, while the Nara boy just annoyed and secretly relieved. I smile at them almost proudly. "It took me a week of intense training to master the tree-climbing exercise. You managed it in less than a day."

My comment is received by incredulous looks and I can't help but laugh heartily at that. "As I said, your chakra control is improving very quickly, so don't be frustrated just because you still can't walk on the water. You'll reach that stage in two weeks, tops." I wink at Ino. "And in the meantime, you could show Sasuke the tree-climbing. I'm certain he will be amazed."

The blond girl blushes a little, averting her eyes. "I don't think a little thing like this one could make an impression on him."

"Oh, I assure you it can," I say with a note of mischievousness in my voice. "Sasuke **can't** climb a tree, after all."

"Surely he can-" Ino gasps and I just smirk at her.

"Not yet."

The girl seems a little shocked at first, but then her brow furrows, making her appear meditative. Hmmm... I thought she would have jumped at the possibility of impressing her crush, but she just seems pensive instead.

"Let's go eat," Shikamaru steps in. "I'm starving."

As if on cue, my stomach grumbles loudly. "Me too," I add unnecessarily, chuckling a little at Ino's disgusted expression.

"Naruto, you're-"

She can't finish, because her own stomach takes that exact moment to grumble its opinion on the matter. It resonates in the following silence like thunder, and we all stop completely for roughly two seconds. Then there's no stopping Shikamaru and me from bursting out laughing and rolling on the ground, actual tears of mirth falling from our eyes. The bunch of kids trying to observe us inconspicuously starts giggling again from some bushes nearby. Yeah... Iruka will have to deal with a lot more children than normal in a couple of years. Tree-climbing awesomeness plus rolling laughter? I'm certain we just created some hopeful ninjas.

Still chuckling a little, we recompose ourselves and start walking again, leaving the park behind. Ino's mortified blush lasts till we reach Ichiraku's stand.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Here we are."

I stop in the middle of the stairs leading to Ino's front door, looking up at the blond girl with her back to me. Muffled noises are coming from the house- running water and clattering of tableware**-**, proving the presence of at least one of the Yamanaka parents- if the light on wasn't proof enough already.

"Here we are," Ino repeats, toying with the keys in her hands. Though I can't see her expression for she's not facing me, it's not hard to guess she's more than a little uncomfortable at the moment and I wonder why. It's not like it's the first time I walked her home, and she didn't seem to mind it much yesterday. Also, I'm pretty sure she enjoyed our stop at Ichiraku's stand- more for her giggling chat with Ayame than for the ramen, probably, but still. Shikamaru too seemed to enjoy the place and the food, maybe cheered by his success with the tree-climbing exercise and by Ino's grumbling gaffe. I think the boy won't forget the latter for a long time... and I'm also quite certain he'll make sure that neither Ino will forget it. He took some jabs at her at dinner already, with a mocking high-pitched voice, clearly parroting something she had told him in the past.

I found myself watching their bickering with a half-amused, half-sad smile tonight. I envy them their relationship sometimes... yes, they're at each other's throat most of the time, but there's a bond between them that is completely foreign to me. They share a childhood together, and that's something I never had and never will, with anyone. My childhood wasn't exactly my happiest age, and the fact that I lived it just once makes it the only completely unchangeable part of my existence. If I wanted to, I could kill myself right now and go back again to three days ago, altering everything in my power, but not all the things that come before. Those are set in stone and I can't do anything about them. In a way, I could say my childhood is the only real _past_ I have... It would have been good to have it more similar to Shikamaru's or Ino's, but I really can't complain considering what I was given instead... what the Kyuubi gave me...

Anyway... when we finished our meal, we departed happily from the ramen stand, waving goodbye to Ichiraku-san and Ayame, and making our way through the streets of Konoha. Shikamaru left us soon, having to take a different route than Ino's, and **not **having the littlest intention of walking more just for her.

Now, here we are- as Ino needlessly pointed out twice-, in front of her house. And she's uncomfortable for no apparent reason. Unless...

"Naruto..." she murmurs finally turning around. "I... I wanted to thank you for today. You helped me a great deal." I wave my hand dismissively starting to answer, but she has something else to say. "And I'm sorry... for what I said about you the other day." I let my hand drop as she stares at her feet, darting her eyes up to my face every once in a while. "I... I'm sorry," she repeats in a small voice, lamely and cutely at the same time, if that was even possible.

I just smile, showing her one of my patented foxy grins. Walking up the two steps separating us, I place a gentle peck on her cheek, finding it cool and smooth under my lips. Smells of flowers and river assault my senses pleasantly, but I step back without hesitating, leaving her completely shocked and with her mouth hanging open. Her hand reaches up to brush with her fingertips the spot I just kissed.

"Sleep well," I say quietly before walking away and vanishing behind a corner.

What's up with me and pecks today?

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Night has long fallen and Sasuke didn't come.

I waited for him for roughly three hours- training and attacking innocent Kage Bunshins in the meantime. His black jacket is resting under the same tree where it rested yesterday, perfectly cleaned and folded up.

But Sasuke didn't come.

I shrug my shoulders, dispatching the last couple of Shadow Clones with a kunai. As the memories of their defeat flow into my mind, I take a deep breath, relaxing my muscles and allowing a wide yawn to make its way to my mouth. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I start walking away from the clearing and towards my little apartment, a cold shower and my creaking bed. Passing by the tree, I carefully pick up the black jacket, staring at it with my brow furrowed.

Sasuke didn't come.

Oh well... it's not like I'll give up on him anytime soon.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Author's note - A huge thank you to Big Pája for beta-reading this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5 – Secret Heart

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 5 – Secret Heart

"You should have brought your glasses like I had told you, Sensei."

My grin couldn't widen any more than this as I watch the speechless form of Sarutobi Asuma. His expression is absolutely hilarious. The dark eyes almost out of their sockets and the mouth completely open and perfectly O-shaped make for the most shocked expression I have seen in a while. The cigarette lying forgotten on the ground between his feet also helps the general picture. It fell from his lips at about two minutes into the exam. Because it was an exam that waited for me in the training ground number 17 this morning. Pity its life as an exam didn't last very long, since it turned into a little show-off on my part in about a minute.

I recover the jacket I had previously discarded and put it on, while looking around. The training ground is a real mess. Maybe that Earth ninjutsu was a bit too much... I exaggerated a little with that huge crater over there. Still, it was good to unleash my power a little. It felt like years since I did that. The Kyuubi enjoyed the ride too, judging by his howling laughter.

I turn towards Asuma again, and the Jounin is slowly recomposing himself after having assisted at my quite impressive performance. I have no doubt he hadn't realized I was _this_ strong yet. Possibly stronger than him too! Well, I'm not worried about his reaction at all. I speak from experience here, of course.

The first thing he does is light up another cigarette as he too looks around through the devastated place, his eyes still wide.

"Naruto, can you explain all this?" He gestures vaguely at the training ground, his wary gaze shifting to me.

"I could," I say getting a little more serious. "But I won't."

"What?"

His expression becomes even more shocked at my direct refusal, and I try to make my point clear before his comeback.

"I agreed to meet you today and show you my skills because I agree with you about what you said yesterday. As my team captain, you need to know what to expect from me in a serious mission, so you can take the proper decisions consequently." I open my arms in a wide gesture meant to embrace the whole training ground. "Now you know what to expect."

Asuma closes his mouth forcefully and waits patiently for the explanation he's sure is coming. I don't make him wait any longer.

"But some secrets are mine to keep and 'how can I be this strong' is one of them. I won't try and convince you that's a natural thing anymore, because it's evident you are not going to believe that. But the truth is not something I'm very comfortable with..." More like **he** would be very uncomfortable with me if I told him the truth so soon, but whatever. I'm still playing the part of the kid here, despite knowing it would fit Asuma better between us. "You're free to try and guess, though. And I think your father could give you a hand in the matter..."

I end up joking with a little smile, and the Jounin seems to relax slightly as I mention the Hokage. He's probably thinking he will receive some answers from the Sandaime, but I predict a long and fruitless discussion between them instead, because a couple of scrolls borrowed from the Hokage tower cannot explain what I did during this exam of sorts this morning. Not at all. A-class jutsus without using seals, advanced taijutsu in more than just one style, and I even threw in a nice genjutsu which took him a full minute to dispel! Hell, I'm sure that in tonight's discussion, plenty of fancy theories about me will pop up from the father and son, probably keeping me from sleeping with all the sneezing they'll cause me. I'm sure that the Kyuubi will sneeze a lot as well.

"Naruto..." Asuma starts uncertainly. "Between this, the Mokuton, the Kage Bunshins... I can't just-"

"Sensei, please..." I say, effectively interrupting him with my soft tone. "I can't tell you..." I end up whispering and lowering my eyes in the cutest way I can manage. "I can't..."

Heh... damn, I'm good.

I let the silence do its job before finally looking Asuma in the eyes with resolve. "However, this I can tell you," I add seriously. "I'm absolutely loyal to Konoha. And I will use my powers at the service of the Hokage for as long as I'll be needed. I give you my word, and I never go back on it! That's my ninja way."

That never changed, though I... uhm... _bent_ it somewhat in some of my past lives.

Asuma regards me intently for a moment before sighing resignedly.

"All right, Naruto. I won't press the matter any more. You didn't do anything wrong after all, and I have no right to pretend to know something you don't want to tell me," he says with a reasonable voice, though his eyes say that the Hokage will have the last say in the matter. "Besides... I believe you." He smiles a little at that, as if proud of something. "Like I told you yesterday, I consider myself a good observer and judge of both human and ninja behaviour, and while I had admittedly underestimated you to a certain degree, I **did** understand that you were downplaying your abilities." The Jounin takes a last, long drag from his cigarette, while looking at the ruined training ground before continuing. "I get a similar impression when it comes to your personality, and I tend to trust these impressions of mine. This morning just proved me right." He puts out the cigarette with his shoe before picking it up and saving it carefully, smiling gently all the while. "You're an honest person Naruto, and if you tell me you mean no harm to Konoha, then I believe you."

The twelve-year-old Naruto would have been sobbing right now, and damn, I could start in a moment or two myself if he keeps it up. It feels good to hear such a show of trust, and _trust_ Asuma to always say the right thing at the right time. That's his only predictable behaviour, probably...

Still, I have no intention of crying now, so I try to light up the mood quickly.

"Uhm... when you say 'harm'... do you also include pranks?" I school my features into a frightened expression that elicits a deep chuckle from the bearded ninja.

"Not really."

"Thank God!"

The Hokage's son just shakes his head, smiling at my idiotic joke. "You know, Naruto, you're probably the number one surprising ninja of Konoha," he says with an amused expression on his face. "And I think they're all in for a big surprise."

I immediately beam at him. No one has called me that for a long time. I think the last person was Kakashi three or four lives ago, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it's absolutely fitting and I'm very attached to it. It's the first positive title I've ever received. Let's just say that 'monster', 'dead last' and 'idiot' weren't - and aren't - very appealing to me.

"Thank you, Sensei," I tell him after a second of silence. "And thank you for believing in me. I won't betray your trust."

His following nod is what completely settles the matter which is promptly dropped in favour of what I should do from now on. He speaks for probably half a minute until I finally understand where he's going and decide to answer him immediately.

"I'm staying in Team 10," I say simply, and Asuma seems a little surprised.

"You want to stay in Team 10?"

"Yes."

"But why? With us, it would take you probably a year to become just a Chuunin, while with your skills you could-"

"Sensei," I interrupt him with a frown. "I don't mind waiting two years if it's with you, Ino and Shikamaru. I like being in Team 10, I have a lot of fun, and I don't think I could find a better Sensei and better teammates."

I made this speech so many times in the past that it almost seems meaningless in my mind. But it's not. It has a great meaning and makes a lot of sense. After countless repetitions, I know what I have to do, what I like to do. Going with the flow. That's it, plain and simple. I don't have to go out of my way to change things or gain something. Uchiha Sasuke follows me? I'll try and give him a hand, then. I meet Hyuuga Hinata at the training grounds? It's confidence-boosting time! All I have to do is follow the path in front of me, without forced changes of direction. I can't fix everything that needs to be fixed, not immediately anyways... that I learnt all too soon. So I will just live my life and try my best - and my worst in some instances. Going with the flow, then, just as I said. Of course, there are times in which I **will** go slightly out of my way to get rid of something or someone - a certain snake-bastard comes to mind, for example - but that doesn't mean I'll hunt him down through all the shinobi countries! But when he'll set foot inside Konoha...

Anyway, enough with these bloodthirsty thoughts. There is a Sensei to convince here. A Sensei who at the moment is speaking, by the way.

"They'll just slow you down. Hell, for what I saw this morning, I too would have problems with keeping up with you!"

"I doubt that," I say snorting lightly. "And even if it was true, I wouldn't mind. I'm a kid, Asuma-sensei!" Well, not really, but he doesn't know that. I dust off my acting skills before continuing with a slightly whiny voice. "If I became a Chuunin or even a Jounin right now, the Hokage would put me with grown-ups for sure! It would be strange for both me and them, and I don't want to risk that now that I found..." I pause for a moment and take a deep, _calming_ breath, lowering my gaze to my shoes. "I... I want to stay in Team 10. That's my place."

There is silence for a moment on the training ground number 17, but when I lift my eyes to him again, Asuma is sporting a frowning, almost pained expression on his face. Without any doubt, the 'good observer and judge of both human and ninja behaviour' is thinking about my poor, lonely childhood right about now, and about how he couldn't possibly have the heart to deny me what I consider a family of sorts.

I sigh internally. And he just told me I'm an honest person... I'm too good at acting for my own sake.

"If that's what you really want," Asuma says, "then I can't see why I should change Team 10. It's your choice after all."

"Really?" I let some hopefulness make its quivering way to my voice.

"Yeah, really," he confirms with a kind smile. "You can also give me a hand when it comes to Ino and Shikamaru."

"Of course, Sensei. Look at it this way," I say brightly. "Maybe they'll truly slow me down a little, but I'm gonna speed them up, too."

"Yeah, let's look at it that way." The Jounin sighs tiredly, scratching his beard. "I don't know how they'll react to this, though..."

"React to this?" I repeat as my eyes bulge out experiencedly in a surprised and slightly frightened expression.

"Yes, of course. What I told you yesterday about knowing each other in the team stands for them as well."

"But... there's no need for them to know exactly how strong I am," I say letting my voice tremble a little. "And... and Shikamaru has pretty much figured it out on his own already."

Asuma frowns, uncertain. "Well, there's that... and we'll be stuck doing easy D-rank missions for a while, anyway."

I perk up visibly. "And besides, it's not like they know exactly _how_ strong you are either."

The Jounin gives me a curious look for a moment, before scratching his beard thoughtfully. "All right Naruto, but-"

"Yes!"

"_But_," he repeats reprimanding me with a look, "I reserve the right to tell them should I feel like it."

I continue to grin hugely despite that. It almost seems like he plans to tell them on a little whim, but I know better.

He looks at the time and whistles quietly. "Guess what? We're fifteen minutes late already. Let's reach the tower before Ino starts thinking about painful ways to kill us. You could be Jounin level - Kage level even - but that won't stop an angry woman from getting her revenge."

He shudders exaggeratedly before jumping away from the training ground and to the streets of Konoha. I follow him swiftly, cracking my neck to the side and giving one last fleeting look at the ANBU who has assisted at the scene from the shadows of a nearby tree. I make sure he notices that I noticed by waving cheerily at him before turning forward again. It was nice of the Captain to pop in for a visit. I think I'll see him again soon...

Anyway, it really went well. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm off the hook at the moment, and I will be at least until tonight. I feel... lighter now that the matter has been put aside. It's a good sensation. It pretty much evens out the feeling of guilt for manipulating the Sarutobis. Thank goodness, I've still to meet Konohamaru in this life...

I doubt the Hokage will want to talk to me again - not even when nothing concrete comes up in the soon-to-follow conversation with his son - but it happened in the past and it's not inconceivable. Not at all. As optimistic and trusting as the Sandaime is, he surely can't ignore this possibly dangerous situation. But knowing him, he'll probably give me some leeway to see how things evolve, while asking Asuma to pay extra attention to me and my behaviour. I'm sure that our moving meeting of two days ago will play a big role in his future decisions as well.

Running through the weapon district of Konoha, I reflect about what will happen next. I'm attracting more attention than I usually do this early in my life, and that could as much pay off as backfire later, but what's certain is I couldn't care less. Life - or should I say 'lives'? - threw a lot of beautiful and dangerous things at me - not to mention all that's in between - but that's exactly the factor that keeps me from secluding myself in a cave somewhere near Suna. Variety is all I ever really needed, and God bless the day I finally understood that in that blasted place in the middle of the desert!

The tower is in sight when Asuma speaks up again, interrupting my musing. "I'm a little saddened that you don't want to tell your teammates the truth. One shouldn't hide such things from friends. But, like I said, I'll support you and leave you free to decide how to handle the matter... for now." He gives me a warning look as he jumps down from the roof we were on. When I land next to him not even a second later, he finishes his previous sentence. "Just... try to behave yourself."

"Really, Sensei!" I say in mock shock. "I always do!"

The Jounin just snorts, approaching Ino and Shikamaru who are hanging around Kurenai and Team 8. The Yamanaka girl turns around immediately upon hearing us and the gritting of her teeth is not a good sign.

"Sorry, we're late," Asuma offers placatingly at once. He nods with a smile towards Kurenai and her Genins before giving his complete attention to his irate-looking one.

"Oh no, don't worry, _Sensei_," Ino says sarcastically, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "It's not like we're freaking freezing here!"

I raise a dubious eyebrow as I look at her and at her stylish outfit, which is not all that suitable for this kind of weather, leaving lots of bare skin of her shoulders and legs for the world to see.

"That can happen if you sacrifice practicality to fashion," I say. I start greeting the others distractedly, while Ino rounds on me. "It looks good on you but you have to admit it's not very appropriate for late October." I turn towards her and give her a small smile. "Sorry for being late, though." Her anger seems to mollify a little when our eyes meet, but I suddenly spin around again having just realized something. "Hey, what happened to you?" I ask grinning with mild amusement. "If I didn't know better I'd say you beat the crap out of each other."

I examine the faces and expressions of one Aburame Shino and one Inuzuka Kiba, who starts glowering at me. I ignore that as I take in the dark bruises under their eyes and on their jaws, and the angry-red mark on Kiba's neck. If Shino wasn't wearing his usual high-collar coat, I bet I would see something similar on his neck as well.

"I-I-I... I did it," is the stammering answer I receive from the both ashamed and hopeful Hyuuga girl standing slightly behind them. Everyone turns at once towards Hinata, shocked that the shy kunoichi would willingly admit to having kicked her teammates' asses. I almost start laughing at her expression, while her forefingers push against each other as always. She darts her white eyes up to my face before lowering them again in seeing my beaming face.

"I knew it!" I shout slipping into character without any problem. "You're the best, Hinata!"

"It was during yesterday morning's spar," Kurenai supplies helpfully, and Ino's and Shikamaru's incredulous looks abate a little. The red-eyed woman tosses me an inquiring look before continuing. "She seemed very motivated for some reasons."

I just keep on grinning at Team 8 as Kiba starts growling.

"Weren't we late already?" he snarls.

"Yes, we better get inside the tower and take an assignment," Asuma steps in, grateful for the opening. "After all..." he resumes in all seriousness, starting to walk towards the front doors, "we're freaking freezing here."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The sun is high in the sky when we get back to the Hokage tower after completing our first D-rank mission of the day. It was an easy one, even as far as D-rank missions go, but it wasn't particularly boring in itself, and with Asuma there, we had fun anyway. Cleaning the streets of the fifth and sixth district isn't exactly the most exciting task in the world, but there's definitely worse. And doing it with a sparkly new jutsu is an awesome added bonus. Well, at least for real Genins who didn't know the technique already. No one commented on my immediate learning of the ninjutsu this time around, although Shikamaru's indignant huff was a comment all in itself. Anyway, with the second weakest Wind jutsu in all the shinobi countries, we made quick work of all the trash and most of all the leaves littering the streets of Konoha. We're not the Village of the Leaf for anything, and in autumn there's practically a carpet of them covering the streets. At first, a still fuming Ino seemed intent on not learning the new ninjutsu out of sheer stubbornness and annoyance, but in the end she understood how impractical it would have been to get rid of all those leaves without it and just swallowed the whole freezing joke and got to work. The morning went better from that point onward, and in a little more than a couple of hours we had completed the mission.

As we approach the tower for our second and probably last one of the day, we are flanked by another little group of four people coming out of a side street. It's the first time in this life that I see the whole Team 7.

"Asuma," Kakashi says nodding at the Hokage's son and barely lifting his only visible eye from the orange book in his left hand.

"Kakashi." Asuma nods back at him, grinning slightly. "I see that not even in front of your impressionable Genins you deprive yourself of your _precious_."

The two Jounin keep on walking towards the tower, speaking in low tones. Low tones which are completely overwhelmed a second later by the high-pitched voice of the excited blonde walking behind me.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouts happily, rushing towards her crush, only to stop in her tracks and shriek horrified a second later. "Sasuke-kun! What happened to your face?"

I just spare a glance at the Uchiha boy and at his bruised appearance as I continue to follow Asuma's and Kakashi's slow pace. I refrain from rolling my eyes or smirking at him as I feel his glare, together with Asuma's and Shikamaru's interested looks, on me. Even Kakashi decides to pay a grain of attention to the whole exchange, and after a second, his eye is curving slightly upwards in amusement. Whether because of the situation or because of the book he's back to reading, I don't know.

Sasuke doesn't even deign to answer Ino, but the girl hesitates for just a second before starting to bicker with Sakura over him. In the meantime, I greet an oblivious Chouji who has already engaged Shikamaru in a conversation, and then keep on walking a step behind the two Senseis. I lean forward a little, taking a look at the cover of Kakashi's book, before grinning.

"Fifth volume, huh?" I say clearing my voice theatrically and attempting a baritonal one. "'_I will have your knickers for that. Mark my words._'"

The masked Jounin glances back at me with a blank expression on his face before showing me his smiling-eye. "Ah, now this is what I call good instruction. The Academy doesn't offer it, sadly."

Asuma chuckles lightly. "A little too young to be a fan of the Icha Icha series, aren't you, Naruto?"

"There's no such thing as too young when it comes to art," I say mischievously. "And I can be considered too young regarding very few things of life, anyway."

That earns me a curious look from the two ninjas, but I just keep on smirking as we enter the hall of the Hokage tower and step up the stairway.

Sasuke has somehow managed to shake off both Ino and Sakura, and is now walking beside me, a stony, impassive face directed right in front of him. I observe him for a moment, while he seems to almost make an effort not to look at me.

"How are you, Sasuke?"

The relaxing of his jaw and shoulders at my words gives me the impression he was relieved by them. I think he simply wanted to tell me something but didn't know how to start a conversation. Still, his answer isn't very in line with that theory.

He just grunts.

"I admit I was a bit disappointed when you didn't show yourself yesterday," I say, and I know I just attracted the attention of Asuma, Kakashi and probably Shikamaru and Chouji with the sentence. Sakura and Ino's bantering resonates from one of the lower floors of the tower where they probably are trying to strangle each other or something.

Sasuke's eyes dart briefly towards me but his expression stays unreadable. He has yet to learn that it's not enough to school his facial features to hide his emotions and intentions, but that there are a lot of other factors that can communicate them to an accomplished shinobi. But considering he probably doesn't regard me as one...

I give him the time to formulate an answer, and when I eventually see it won't come, I speak up again. "Oh, right," I say clicking my fingers before producing a simple scroll from my trouser pocket. "This is yours. I trust you know how to activate a storage seal, hmm?" I hand it to him and he takes it after a moment of hesitation. When he continues to look at it warily, I try to reassure him, grinning. "Don't worry. It doesn't explode."

"What is it?" he asks, curious despite himself.

"You'll see," I say smirking knowingly. I'm being all mysterious here, but in reality, it's just his jacket sealed in the scroll. Well, there's also this little harmless surprise, but whatever. Hey, I can't just stop pranking people or everyone will suspect something! Not that they aren't already...

The Uchiha boy gives me one last annoyed look, and then puts the scroll in a holster at the hip. When we reach the waiting-room next to where the missions are assigned, the Team Captains make their presence known to a Hokage's assistant as we wait for the female members left behind to join us. They do some minutes later - both sporting an angry face and a haughty expression at the same time - and we can finally enter the actual room and see the Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama," we say almost in unison once we step inside. I say almost because I actually shouted "Hey Ojiisan!" out of habit, waving cheerily with my hand. All the people in the room snap their heads towards me, some shocked, others glaring, and Ino even tries to swat me on the back of my head, hissing something under her breath. I dodge the punishing blow and just grin sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry. Geez..."

The Sandaime just smiles amusedly at me from his seated position behind the long desk filled with towering piles of papers. Earlier this morning it was even worse. I'm the only one in this room who really knows what that means and can sympathize with him greatly.

"Ah, Team 10, welcome back. Team 7," he acknowledges forming an arch with his hands over a document in front of him. "How did the mission go, Asuma-kun?"

The bearded Jounin rolls his eyes. "Despite the strenuous resistance encountered, we were eventually able to subdue and eliminate the targets from the fifth and sixth districts."

I can't help but pipe up at that. "Those pesky leaves... they really didn't know when to give up, resilient bastards..."

Much to my amusement and surprise, Shikamaru joins the fun as well with a perfectly straight face. "It was a hard and messy fight, and even the weather was against us - we were freaking freezing out there after all - but we succeeded in the end."

I should have known. He only used the joke to get to Ino, but still. I grin at him almost proudly as the Yamanaka girl growls something unintelligible, torn between snapping at him and behaving politely in front of the Hokage. Asuma is grinning too, now. During all this, Sakura and Sasuke watched on with somewhat sceptical expressions, next to an as much amused as surprised Chouji and a eye-smiling Kakashi.

The Sandaime chuckles lightly, his eyes sparkling at us. "I expected no less from a team of brave Konoha shinobi." He sends a meaningful look to his son - which could be interpreted in lots of ways, really - before turning his attention to Team 7. "I have a similarly delicate mission for you, Kakashi-kun. The streets of the tenth and the eleventh district are in the same condition as the ones of fifth and sixth just described by Team 10. They need to be cleaned. Do you think your Genins are up to the task?"

The masked Jounin looks critically and intently at his students and when Sasuke eventually rolls his eyes, he turns to the Sandaime, smiling again. "We'll do our best, Hokage-sama."

"Very well." The old man hands Kakashi a single sheet of paper and Team 7 slowly files out of the room, followed by my cries of encouragement and best wishes.

Turning around again, I realize Asuma has stepped up to the desk and is now peering down at a pile of papers in front of the Hokage. He lifts the first, second and third sheet, hesitates for a moment at the fourth one, and then jams his finger down on it. "This one," he says seriously.

For an instant, in hearing his almost grim tone, I think the joke is still on, but when the Sandaime glances down at the paper and frowns a real frown, I understand it's something else. "This mission? Asuma-"

"I would like this mission, Hokage-sama," the bearded Jounin says very politely, and here my interest definitely perks up.

Father and son look at each other for a long moment.

"Are you sure?" the older Sarutobi asks.

"Yes."

"Are they ready?"

"I think so."

"Hey!" I say stepping forward and grinning eagerly. Could it be? Could it be a C-rank mission already? Ah! Finally a real fight to the death - _their_ death exclusively, of course! "Is that-"

In the time it takes me to start the question, I catch a glimpse of the mysterious sheet of paper as it disappears inside Asuma's vest. It was enough. The symbol I saw was unmistakable.

"Oh," I say simply and sober up immediately.

"What?" Ino asks excitedly and even Shikamaru shows more than a little anticipation on his usually bored face.

Asuma backs away and looks impassively at me. A serious nod on my part tells him I know, and that creates a spark of curiosity in his eyes, though he hides it pretty well. We depart the room at a slow pace under the inquisitive looks of the two uninformed ninjas of the team. Once outside the tower, Ino cannot take it anymore.

"Sensei. Sensei!" she calls a little annoyed. "Would you mind telling us what kind of mission it is?"

We continue to walk calmly, followed closely by the girl and Shikamaru, and after a couple of seconds, Asuma finally answers. "We are to meet Teuchi Yusuda-sama and follow his every direction and order."

"He the client?" Shikamaru asks, his brow furrowed.

"No," the bearded Jounin says simply.

The Nara boy is starting to get annoyed as well by all these mysteries and vague answers and his next uncharacteristical snarl is clear proof of it. "Who is, then?"

I wait for a minute to see if Asuma wants to clue him and Ino in, but that doesn't seem to be his intention at the moment so I start talking.

"Konoha. Konoha is the client," I say. "Teuchi Yusuda is the guardian of the Heart."

Silence descends once again among Team 10, although in my mind it's interrupted by the low growl of the Kyuubi.

'_I hate these missions..._' he says.

'_You don't understand shit,_' I answer him honestly, and strangely enough he starts cackling. I ignore him as I glance back at my fellow Genins.

"The Heart?" Ino repeats thoughtfully. "Wait, I remember something. We studied it at the Academy, I think." At my affirmative nod, she continues. "It's that old forest with giant trees, right?"

I smile a little at that. "Was it that easy..."

OoOoOoOoOoO

We start running as Asuma finally picks up the pace. People and shops of Konoha fly past us, almost a blur of colours in our peripheral vision at the speed we're keeping up. I don't know if they already realize it, but Ino and Shikamaru are already a little quicker than just three days ago. It's inevitable. Their chakra flow is much more fluid now, faster, and even if they don't use it consciously to reinforce their legs or boost their speed, their body is experiencing some positive effects already.

After we reach the forest around the east side of the Village and delve a little deeper in it, three pairs of eyes start following us. Of course, Asuma and I are the only ones to notice that, because years will pass before Ino and Shikamaru can sense, hear, see or even smell an ANBU squad. So we move forward, flanked by our invisible guards, until we reach a high, fragile-looking wooden fence running to both our left and our right, and disappearing from sight. We stop at roughly ten feet from it and I notice how my teammates' eyes almost skip over it, barely giving it a second thought.

I shake my head. The Fence is indeed fragile-_looking_.

Still, I can see why their gaze went immediately to the other side of the fence. The stretch of Konoha's forest we have just run through isn't exactly full of little shrubs, but the trees now in front of us are nothing short of huge. They stand way above the height of the ones we just surpassed, and their trunks are so massive that it would take something between 95 and 101... say, twelve-year-old Naruto Kage Bunshins to embrace and cover their entire circumference with arms. The fact that these trees are of the same kind and even a little younger than all the others that constitute Konoha's forests makes them even more impressive.

When the old man silently appears in front of us, I brace myself for what will happen next. It will be annoying and sad, and hard in more ways than one.

"Welcome to the Heart," Teuchi Yusuda says in a small, relaxed voice, and his lips quirk slightly upwards in seeing how badly he startled both Ino and Shikamaru. "I am Teuchi Yusuda, the guardian of this sacred place. What is-"

He can't finish his sentence, the next habitudinal words helplessly stuck in his throat. He works with his jaw for two full seconds - a shame for an experienced shinobi like him - before setting it stiffly, his teeth clenching tightly together.

His eyes just fell on me.

The hate in them... it can't be described. It's a blazing fury threatening to burn me alive and leave only a scorching mark on the spot I'm occupying at the moment. It's a righteous and self-righteous hate, and I rarely encountered something like it in all my lives. The villagers and many shinobi can look at me with disgust, loathing, even hate in some instances. But Teuchi Yusuda... he's on a whole different level.

He visibly steels himself not to say anything and quickly moves his eyes from me to Asuma. His entire demeanour has changed to one of wary hostility.

"What are you doing here?"

Asuma clearly didn't expect such a reaction to my presence as he hesitates for a split second before answering. "We Team 10 are here to aid you in the recovering, transporting and arrangement of the already established amount of sacred wood to employ as you see fit," the man says politely, handing him the sheet of paper proving it. "We're under Hokage's orders, Yusuda-sama."

The stress of the last sentence isn't lost to anyone, not even to Ino, who at the moment is the least perceptive ninja present here in front of the Heart - ANBU included. The girl furrows her golden brow, glancing at me with uncertainty. I try to give her a small, reassuring smile. The situation will probably only get worse and it will _not_ turn for the better any time soon.

"Hokage's orders," the old shinobi repeats as if trying to make sense of that. He examines the paper intently before carefully folding it and saving it in his pocket. "Follow me."

He spins on his heel quickly and leads the way to the wooden fence. I walk a little distant from him, but I stay well in his field of vision to try and make him relax, at least a little. I catch Asuma's concerned eyes a moment later and immediately feel something unclenching in my stomach. I'm upset, more than I'd like to be. I should be hate-proof now anyway, with all the lives I lived practically basking in it, but I just can't ignore and shrug off the Heart's guardian's burning eyes.

I come out of my musings when Ino's gasp resonates in front of me. Ah, the Fence is finally getting the attention it deserves. As Teuchi Yusuda's hands work on the wooden pole in front of us, a white light starts to glimmer all along the high fence, pouring out from the still invisible symbols and shapes carved on the other side of it. As the old man puts both his palms squarely on the wooden pole, the light suddenly flares brighter, casting long shadows on the ground and on us. Both the lights and the shadows seem almost alive as they stretch and swirl like sinuous snakes, defying the strong rays of morning sun filtering through the trees' leaves above us.

I can't help but be entranced as I've always been by the sight. It doesn't matter how many times I witness it - be it as Genin, as Sensei or as guardian even - the Heart's fence is just awesome. As I follow light and shadow chasing after each other, my eyes are brought upon my fellow Genins, and the amazed expressions on their faces are as much priceless as sharable. I end up looking at the Heart's guardian and am somewhat relieved that the show seems to have visibly relaxed him as well. Even Yusuda who works at the Heart and knows it inside out can't stay impassive in front of such a piece of work.

The Heart's fence is a seal masterpiece and is treated by every master or adept as a necessary stop of their pilgrimage in their study of the Art. Jiraiya treats it with more reverential respect than he treats what there is beyond, and that really says something about it.

When part of the Fence seems to simply slide aside and disappear, Ino's and Shikamaru's eyes can't get any wider, and we have to wait for them to recompose a little before reaching us on the other side. Then we all inevitably turn around to examine the Fence and can finally admire the precision and complexity of the countless seals carved on the wooden poles, covering almost the totality of their surfaces and still glimmering slightly. Yusuda and I are the only ones here who can fully understand them, but you don't have to comprehend something to appreciate its beauty. Beauty goes beyond reason.

"Wow," Ino whispers, and there's really nothing to add to that.

"Wow indeed," Yusuda says amusedly, regaining some of his normal demeanour. The old man isn't such an ass as he appears. His irrational hate is exclusively directed at me. For the most part, Teuchi Yusuda is a good shinobi and a kind man. He's respected by the totality of Konoha and not just because of his position as the guardian of the Heart, though that plays a big role in it.

He waits for a couple of seconds more before approaching the Fence again and closing the opening we just used to enter.

"Now you are really inside the Heart of Konoha." He turns towards us, carefully looking everywhere but where I am. "This is the place considered sacred above all else in the Village of the Leaf. Behind me is the Fence which holds and protects everything inside. No man ever managed to slip through it and enter the Heart to commit wrong or evil deeds against it, though that wasn't for lack of trying," he says with a brief smirk before his eyes harden suddenly on me. "The only _thing_ capable to cause damage to it and the Heart itself was the Kyuubi no Youko but the protections are more advanced since then, so even the Beast would be hard pressed to breach our defences now."

The last sentence and the harsh tone almost make me smile, while the Kyuubi has no such qualms as he cackles madly. Yusuda obviously doesn't know that I could breach the improved Fence without any problem and the same goes for the Kyuubi. He also doesn't seem to understand that I am _not_ 'the Beast'. I'm tempted to reply something in kind, but hold back. Shikamaru is already looking at me with the doubt on his face, and Ino with a puzzled frown marking her pretty features. The old shinobi is really pushing the matter here. Someone should remind him about the existence of that nice little law before he'll find his own head rolling away from his shoulders. He's lucky Asuma is here.

"Yusuda-sama, this is the _first_ time my Genins set foot inside the Heart," he starts, the mildest tone of warning in his voice. "Would you mind giving us a tour of it before starting with the actual mission?"

The bearded Jounin's final cheerfulness isn't fooling anyone. Even Ino is suspecting something is going on here. Oh well, the damage is done now, might as well make good use of it.

"Yeah," I say smiling excitedly. "It would be awesome, Yusuda-sama!"

I do my best to feign obliviousness under his hateful eyes and he finally looks away in disgust. He nods once at Asuma and starts walking away. The smile immediately falls from my face like the most fake ones always do as I follow him and my teammates, ignoring their interrogative looks. Even if they already knew of the Kyuubi, I wouldn't tell them what's going on. It's a long, sad and annoying story and they probably wouldn't understand it anyway.

"Did you pull one of your pranks on him?" Ino whispers to me, and I just shake my head in answer to her and at her naivety.

"It's complicated."

"Explain then," Shikamaru steps in.

"Not now," I say as the Heart's guardian starts talking. "Maybe later."

"The Heart of Konoha was born almost exactly sixty years ago. As you should know from your studies at the Academy, the Hidden Village of the Leaf was created in this forest by the will of the Senju clan, under the guidance of the man who would become the Shodai Hokage, but this forest didn't even exist before that. He _created_ it with his Mokuton, which gave him the power to control and create the wood element and in this case all the oldest trees that constitute Konoha."

I receive a couple of fleeting looks from Ino and Shikamaru, while Yusuda leads us towards the first immense tree on our path and puts a hand reverently on its trunk, closing his eyes as if in deep concentration. I play the part of the fascinated Genin by craning my neck upwards and looking at the highest branches visible, but it isn't all that difficult. Nature has and will always have a way to amaze me.

"But the trees of the Heart are not like the other trees that constitute Konoha," Yusuda resumes with a small smile playing on his lips. "And they're actually younger despite their appearances."

"Younger?" Ino snaps her attention back down to the old shinobi. "But they are way bigger than everything I've ever seen or read about!"

The old shinobi's smile widens a little. "Quite true. These are the biggest trees known to man. But these were also the last trees of Konoha's forest that the Shodai Hokage created. Let me tell you the complete story," he says jumping on a huge root slightly raised and using it as a pulpit of sorts. He always loved this kind of things and not even my presence here could stop his little show now. "When sixty years ago, Senju Hirashima brought his clan and his followers here, this land didn't look like it looks now. Not at all. It was a vast, deserted area, not very dissimilar from how the east part of the Earth country looks nowadays. It was all rocks, unruly fields and little shrubs. The Shodai didn't think that as it was, that land could hide his Village. He needed and, frankly speaking, wanted a forest."

He pauses to knock on the wood thoughtfully before continuing. "It was quite a feat, you see. Despite his incredible amount of chakra, to create a forest alone by using the Mokuton it took him no less than thirty-seven days with practically no rest." His voice takes a solemn quality at this point. "But during those thirty-seven days, he gave us all a home. Maybe not a perfect one, maybe not a completely peaceful one, but a home nonetheless. We as shinobi of the Leaf have the duty to honour his sacrifice and effort and protect it with our lives." Yusuda gives us all - even Asuma! - a stern, judging look before continuing more cheerily. "Anyway... as he created the forest, he purposefully left this area empty until the very last day of his work, because he clearly had all the intentions of attempting something extraordinary here. To date, we don't know what he did exactly, he never said or wrote anything about it, but the result is this." His arms opened wide, Yusuda beams down at us. "These trees are immortal!"

I refrain from rolling my eyes at his theatrics and from snorting at his words, but it's a close call. It isn't his fault if his information is so vague and incorrect, though he played a big role in making it the established fact. Still, what he said in the end is true. The trees of the Heart seem to be immortal indeed. That doesn't mean they can't be destroyed of course, they're not invulnerable. It's just that they don't seem to be affected by the flow of time.

Shikamaru's perplexed frown and Ino's fascinated gaze prompt Yusuda to continue. "Many expert botanists from all over the world came here to study them under Konoha's request or for their own reasons. Every one of them came here searching for logical answers but could only leave the Heart shouting 'miracle'! Papers of sixty years ago say that these trees appeared no different than all the others created by the Shodai at the time. It was only years later, when we noticed how they continued to grow bigger and taller without showing signs of decaying, that we saw what incredible miracle he had accomplished. Because, while the other trees of Konoha's forest grow old and die, the trees of the Heart never stop their growth and at the same time are fully mature, like they've been since their creation. They're not growing old. They're not dying. Every study and diagnosis of the last fifty years says one thing." He pauses for a long second, his eyes glinting under the sunlight in almost childish excitement. "The Heart of Konoha will always be alive!"

I can't help the shudder that travels along my spine. You have to give Yusuda credit. He really knows how to take young Genins. He can be too emphatic and over the top at times, but in front of kids freshly out of the Academy, his methods work wonders. Ino is looking enraptured, while Shikamaru has this odd expression on his face, a mix between pride and excitement. This is why Yusuda is the Heart's guardian. And this is why the Heart is the real symbol of the shinobi of the Leaf. Something as incredible as immortal trees couldn't be anything less.

The rest of the tour goes on as it always does and I don't pay much attention to it. After all, I could explain everything Yusuda is saying with more precision and accuracy considering I researched these trees for lives on end. As the old shinobi speaks, I reflect about what a beautiful mystery the Heart is. I spent entire lives studying it, but I was never able to come to a real conclusion about what the Shodai Hokage did. It was quite baffling and... and infuriating in a sense. How could it be possible for me, a man of almost infinite resources, knowledge and time, not to be able to unravel that enigma that the Heart of Konoha was and is? How could Senju Hashirama have accomplished something beyond my possibilities and even comprehension? I was so frustrated! I remember it as if it was yesterday - all those days buried under piles of books, scrolls and equations, examining roots, sap and soil, and experimenting with them.

And then a single note of black ink found almost by chance... I still feel like laughing whenever I think about it. A simple and quite clear '_What the hell?!_' scrawled by the Shodai on an old document regarding the abnormal growth of the trees of the Heart finally put a stop to my futile research.

Not even Senju Hashirama knew what he had done.

The hilarity of the news had me rolling on the ground for days. When I eventually stopped laughing, I was as happy as I could ever be. It wasn't a simple man - despite him being the Shodai Hokage - the one able to fool me and keep something hidden from me. It was Nature. Or maybe God, Chaos, Fate or whatever there is above us all. That I could accept. Unfortunately, living for thousands and thousands of lives gave me a really, _really_ strong complex of superiority towards other men. Well, if you ask _me_, it's not a complex at all... It's just that I _am_ superior. Oh well...

From that point on, I stopped struggling against my inability to find answers and just accepted the truth. No matter how much time I have, there will always be something out of my depth of comprehension and understanding. Realizing that was of great help, contrary to what one could think. It didn't make me feel little or imperfect. Well, it did, but at the same time, I felt... _relieved_ in knowing that there was something completely - and I mean _completely_ - out of my control.

I remember with extreme clarity when I finally bid my goodbye to the Heart of Konoha and its secrets, and just went on with my life.

"Naruto, are you okay?"

"Hmm?" The question brings me back to Earth and I turn towards Asuma walking beside me. "Oh, yes. Just lost in old memories, you know."

The Hokage's son makes a noncommittal sound, while looking steadily forward. He starts to say something but then closes his mouth and approaches the Heart's guardian. "Maybe we should start with the actual mission, Yusuda-sama. Where is the tree in need of our attention?"

Awww, sweet, caring Asuma... cutting the tour short for my sake. I think he'll kill me very painfully once I tell him that the majority of his safety measures and precautions weren't really necessary for the gazillion-year-old, disguised-as-a-kid Uzumaki Naruto.

Anyway, the old shinobi nods curtly and leads us to another immense tree more to the east from where we entered the Heart. Once we look up, it appears clear what needs to be done. Yusuda explains it to us anyway, and in short, we have to prune the branches of the tree which grew so long to almost reach the others nearby. As the Heart's guardian goes recovering all the equipment needed, Asuma starts laying out the plan.

"Okay kids," he says taking a long drag from his cigarette. "Normally, for cutting tree branches, I would teach you a Wind ninjutsu. They're just perfect for this kind of work. But we're talking about the Heart of Konoha here. You don't use cutting jutsus on the Heart." He smirks slightly at us. "We'll do it manually then." He doesn't give any sign of having heard Ino's groan, but the widening of his smirk definitely gives him away. "As to how we get up there, we'll just climb the tree," he says before leaning secretively towards us and saying, "without using our hands!"

The lack of any sort of reaction on our part seems to displease him a little as he frowns down at us. I contain the urge to toss his previous smirk back at him and just assume a blank expression.

"Okay, Sensei," Ino says with disinterest evident on her face after a couple of seconds of silence.

"No problem," Shikamaru adds shrugging his shoulders and calmly walking to the tree and then up the trunk.

"Wai-" Asuma starts only to shut up when Ino starts climbing nonchalantly after Shikamaru. When it seems certain they won't suddenly fall down, the Jounin turns suspiciously towards me. "You have something to do with this," he growls, narrowing his eyes and feeling cheated out of his premeditated little show of awesomeness.

I answer him by producing the most innocent of my smiles and by gesturing for him to climb the tree first. He sighs resignedly, shakes his head and complies. I follow him one step behind but he, of course, isn't surprised.

As we join the rest of our team now vertical again on one of the highest branches, Ino's oddly serious voice reaches my ears.

"Naruto," she all but whispers, looking down at the forest and at Konoha itself in the distance. "Could you do something like this?"

I smile a little as I let my eyes wander through the treetops surrounding us in every direction as far as the eye can see. In all this green, the Village of the Leaf appears as tiny as a wild strawberry in a large bush.

"The forest?" I ask cheerily. "Sure, given enough time. The Heart?" I snort. "I would have no clue where to start with that."

We stay in silence for another minute, continuing to gaze wistfully down at Konoha's forest.

"This... Mokuton," Ino starts curiously. "Yusuda-sama made it sound like something pretty rare..."

I wait for more, a straight-forward question perhaps, but it doesn't seem to be coming. I answer it anyway. "There are only two people known to be able to use it," I say as a smirk threatens to explode into full laughter at Asuma's frown. "And that's _not_ including me."

I allow myself to chuckle at the Jounin's blatant inquisitiveness, but stop soon as Yusuda finally approaches us on our branch with a sour expression on his face, which coupled with the pointed and jagged tools stacked up in the little barrow isn't such a reassuring image.

I cough nervously once.

"So, where do we start?"

The next three hours pass in a haze of sawing and cutting, securing and loading, transporting and stacking. It's hard and rough work, and I actually ache a little by the end of it, but it's a good kind of aching. I refrain from strengthening my muscles with chakra for the mission, deciding that a little work-out wouldn't hurt my relatively weak body. Ino and Shikamaru are definitely tired and in pain, but they never complain openly, though they both start slacking a bit near the end. Asuma seems satisfied though.

Despite a couple of rather stupid and irrational attempts to not let me _touch_ the sacred trees, Yusuda behaves rather well. He doesn't hint at the Kyuubi anymore and generally leaves me alone with the exception of some hateful and wary glances. I don't pay any attention to them as I work my ass off in front of him, in the hope he starts to realize I'm not a threat or a demon or monster. I think I partially succeeded as he utters a grudging grunt when I bring him the last batch of branches. He has already started working on them, polishing the wood, eliminating the leaves and cataloguing them on the basis of their size, which in some instances is comparable to that of normal trees. Once some protective and preserving seals are carved on their surfaces, those branches will be used for all kinds of things, among which is also reinforcing the Fence, like Yusuda points out to us and me especially.

After a well-deserved meal - during which Ino finally eats healthy and nourishing food, being too hungry to think about weight and crushes - we stand around for some minutes, admiring the Heart and its immortal trees, before preparing to go reporting to the Hokage and resuming our training with the water-walking exercise for the rest of the day.

"Well, I think that's all. Give my regards to Hokage-sama when you see him," Yusuda says smiling grandfatherly at Ino. "Be sure to act carefully around saws in the future, Ino-chan. And do try to not mingle with the wrong sort."

I visibly frown at the sentence and at the man's meaningful look towards me.

"Oh, Naruto is not all that bad," Ino replies, chuckling a little on the embarrassed side. Her eyes drift for a moment on me and she blushes. "Well, he's not all that good either."

The Heart's guardian wrinkles his face in disgust before turning to Asuma.

"Thank you, Yusuda-sama," the Jounin says bowing respectfully. "It was all very instructive."

"Yeah, thank you," Ino adds with a bright smile. She really enjoyed her time at the Heart, being as enamoured with Nature as she is. "I hope we'll get another mission like this, soon."

Shikamaru and I nod our heads in agreement and the old shinobi finally grins at us. "No, I thank you. You helped me greatly today. I'm not so young anymore and I get tired so easily lately."

As Yusuda opens up a portion of the Fence for us, I gesture to Asuma that I want to talk with the Heart's guardian alone and that I will catch up with them later. As my team starts to move away while looking curiously back at me, I step to the other side of the Fence and turn around to face the old shinobi. He's clearly tempted to just close the opening and walk away, but in the end he decides to hear me out. That doesn't mean he stops glaring at me, but whatever. Under the watchful gaze of six ANBU members, I start talking.

"I'm not it, you know."

'_Him!_' the Fox hisses at once.

'_Oh, hush, bastard,_' I sigh. '_Let me work_.'

Yusuda immediately freezes on the spot at the declaration, his face a mask of unreadable hardness. His eyes though... they are blazing with hate as always.

"Being the Kyuubi's jailor doesn't make me it," I resume ignoring the Fox's growl. "Nor similar."

I look right into his eyes and see him flinch slightly. That's right, old man... it's not a demon the one you're facing now. Or maybe it is, but it's all yours, and I have very little to do with it.

When Yusuda finally looks away, I resist the urge to shake my head at the ANBU completely giving away his position by shifting uneasily and noisily from up on a tree behind me. Odds are that one is a young rookie who didn't even know the secret. Heh, too late now. But it's probably a good thing that he found it out from me like this.

"What do you want?" the Heart's guardian says hoarsely after a long minute.

"I don't want anything. I just wanted to tell you that," I answer simply. I can't help the sad smile forming on my lips as I crouch down to the ground and put my hands on the damp soil. I can almost sense his eyes widen as my Mokuton creates a little tree right between us. "And that at times, good things can come from the most unlikely places."

I smile at him once again, but seeing that his attention is completely pointed at my little plant, I just turn around ready to go.

"Good bye, Yusuda-sama."

I start running and never look back.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Finding my team in the eastern portion of Konoha's forest is a piece of cake, but I hesitate for more than a second when I realize that Ino and Shikamaru are alone and Asuma is at little distance, apparently doing nothing except observing the two kids. I puzzle over that for a while before cursing under my breath. Son of a... what a bastard...

I join my fellow Genins still shaking my head disbelievingly.

"Where's Asuma?" I ask needlessly. I know the answer already and I also know the reason.

"He told us to wait here for you, while he went to do who knows what," Ino answers, rounding on me with Shikamaru. "So, what was all that about?"

There. Of course they wanted to know. And Asuma-baka just _had_ to leave us alone and free to discuss it. I'm sure he thinks I needed time to confide my secret to my friends. Well, he's right. I need about... hmmm... a couple of years, thank you very much. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little here, but this is not like telling that self-absorbed Sasuke. This is my team we're talking about, and it will be for years, decades maybe, if nothing out of the ordinary happens. I will have many other occasions to open up to them, and I'm not just referring to my furry prisoner here. Sadly, I have a very big and inconvenient baggage when it comes to secrets.

"I'm not saying," I singsong smiling mischievously at them.

"Idiot!" Ino snaps annoyed. "Why not?"

I ponder the idea of riling her up some more, but then settle for a bit of honesty. "I'm not very comfortable with talking about it," I say shrugging my shoulders. "If you really want to know, just figure it out on your own."

"I already figured it out," Shikamaru says with a bored expression on his face and a roll of his eyes. "But I would like to hear it from you."

I look at him for a long moment before smiling amusedly. "Nice bluff, Shika. We should play poker together sometime."

The Nara boy just shrugs. "It was worth a try."

Looking at him, I know he's really interested in this matter, and that doesn't happen to him a lot. He's practically always very intelligent and intuitive, but when he's put in front of something that spikes his curiosity, his intuition is even more frightening. Still, guessing this particular thing could prove very tricky even for him. I give him two months to put all the current and future pieces together. He will have it figured out by then, I'm sure of it. As for Ino... the girl can be incredibly relentless when she wants to, not to say stubborn. But I can be easily two times as stubborn as her.

"I don't like talking about it. It's something I have no control over, nor did in the past. Ever." Seeing Ino's disappointed expression, I scratch the back of my head. "Sorry, I'm not ready yet."

What follows is a very uncomfortable silence, but if I had told them about the Kyuubi, there surely would have been one far worse. Or maybe there would have been screams. Or running foot-steps. Who knows? My experience tells me it could go in so many different ways that I really cannot predict it. I can't say my world would shatter if they didn't accept my 'condition' – because, frankly, I don't care that much so early in the life - but it certainly wouldn't be pleasant. It's been a long time since I lived with practically no care in the world, ignoring what everyone thought of me and of everything about me. I miss that, in a way, that unscratchable apathy that protected me like an armour of steel. It was something that made me incredibly strong.

And terribly alone.

I don't want that. Not anymore. That's why I'm not ready to blurt my dirty secrets out just yet. And that's why I have to share these awkward silences with people I have the utmost trust in.

Still, I don't have to endure them just this long.

"So... what did you think of this mission?"

Ino seems as much grateful as I am for the renewed conversation and she smiles somewhat relieved. "Oh, it was great. But I was wondering about something..." she says thoughtfully. "What was the big deal?"

"Huh?" is my intelligent reply. "Could you be a little vaguer, please?"

She scowls at me. "I mean with the task. Do you remember the reaction of the Hokage when Asuma-sensei asked for this mission? He was all '_Are you sure, Asuma? Do you think they're ready?_' or something like that."

I burst out laughing when she attempts to reproduce the Sandaime's voice, and even Shikamaru can't contain an amused snort. The Yamanaka girl is blushing a little at the end, but she's clearly proud of her stage performance.

When my laughter finally subsides, I can address her doubts. "Well, we made Genin just four days ago, so it was normal for him to question Asuma's request. It was an important mission, after all."

"And that's exactly what I don't understand!" Ino exclaims slightly annoyed. "The task was easy! We didn't waste a lot of time on it and it wasn't dangerous at all!" she says, purposefully forgetting the little initial problem she had with a saw.

"Important doesn't necessarily mean difficult or dangerous," I say soberly. "Do you understand what we just did?"

"Ugh... we cut a bunch of huge branches?" she half-asks.

"Of a Heart's tree," I supply.

"Yes, okay, it was a Heart's tree," she concedes waving dismissively with her hand. "But still! As I said, I can't see what's the big deal."

I stay silent as Shikamaru considers whether to speak up or not. He makes up his mind eventually. "I think they wanted us to realize something."

Ino frowns at him. "And what would that be?"

"Maybe they just wanted us to hear all that 'Konoha's Heart is immortal' thing, and make us identify with that to fuel our pride and loyalty." The Nara boy shrugs apparently unconcerned.

"Partially, but you're missing the main point here," I say nodding to them. "What was the actual mission?"

"Recovering, transporting and arranging the sacred wood to employ as Yusuda-sama saw fit."

As Ino quotes Asuma with impressive nonchalance - being a Yamanaka has some useful side effects on the mind and memory - I see the understanding descend in Shikamaru's eyes. The boy grunts thoughtfully.

"Yep," I say grinning at him. "Exactly."

He seems to look at me with annoyance for a moment before sighing tiredly. "This symbolic crap always eluded me."

"I wouldn't say that," I reply with a small smile. "You realized it very quickly."

"Hey, would you mind enlightening me?" Ino snaps at us.

I let Shikamaru elaborate on the information he has and come up with a proper way to explain everything, but I don't have to wait much.

"The Heart of Konoha will always be alive," he says very seriously. "But we won't."

It takes a little to sink in and we had to practically feed it to her, but Ino finally gets it. "The branches..." she whispers with wide eyes. "We're the branches."

I nod at her. "We will continue to grow for as long as we are able to, living our lives within and for the immense and immortal tree that Konoha is. But we will be cut down eventually."

There's a sad smile quirking my lips now, good enough to go with Shikamaru's frown and Ino's stunned expression. Nothing is said for the next five minutes as the notion is elaborated and hopefully accepted by my fellow Genins. It's a humbling realization - we all are going to die, sooner or later.

'_Did you hear that, you bastard?_' I tell the Fox. '_You too are just a branch in this world._'

His answering growl is somewhat relieving. It means he knows it, too.

When Asuma finally jumps down from a tree and near us, the atmosphere he finds is all but sober and grim. As he approaches us though, his proud smile never wavers.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

When the first kunai flies past my left ear, I can't help the amused smile twisting my lips.

"My, my... aren't we spirited tonight?" I say catching the second weapon and letting it twirl around my finger.

Uchiha Sasuke appears from behind an old tree a second later, an angry scowl creasing his pale features barely lit in this shady part of Konoha's forest.

"What? Didn't you like that little genjutsu inside the scroll?" I ask him. This reaction for just making him think for some minutes that I had coloured his jacket orange seems way too exaggerated to me... maybe there's something else beneath it, hmm?

My smile widens a little as he immediately charges at me, throwing a quick series of punches with a round-house kick intermixed with them. It was a good combo, very impressive for someone who has only recently made Genin. I parry it, of course, and jump back a few feet, landing on the soft ground of a tiny clearing. The dark-haired boy is hot on my heels though, and I'm forced to parry another attack before putting a little distance between us again. Sasuke's kunai is still twirling around my finger, eyed with malevolent annoyance by its original owner.

"I'm gonna kill you," Sasuke growls at me, and I almost burst out laughing at the seriousness in his face. Still, I refrain from doing it as I embed the kunai in the damp soil at my feet with a fast gesture, starting to crack my knuckles and neck.

"Well, let's see what you got. That Grand Fireball jutsu wasn't bad but you were so slow with the seals last time it made me sleepy just to look at you performing it," I say, registering how easy he is to anger. "How about a demonstration of how it really should be done?"

Under his widening eyes, I flash through the required seals and toss the technique in his direction. My fireball is a lot bigger than the one he had managed in our last fight, but he's able to evade it like I had expected. The trees behind him aren't that lucky, though, and they end up charred in a roar of flame. I extinguish the fire immediately, before anything bad could happen to the rest of the forest, and its sudden disappearance leaves Sasuke absolutely incredulous. To him, it almost seems like the fire has never been there. The previous second, it was blazing and roaring, almost scalding his skin with its closeness, and the next it was all over. No more light, sound, heat. The only evidence proving he hadn't just imagined it is the pair of scorched trees barely smouldering at the borders of the clearing.

When the Uchiha turns his head towards me again, he's sporting an awed and at the same time frightened expression on his face. He quickly buries it under the umpteenth scowl, but far too late for even the most unobservant of Villagers to not notice.

When our eyes finally meet, I let my canines show mischievously under the moonlight.

"Now," I say with my most innocent voice, "why were you here again?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Author's notes – So, this was the fifth chapter. Hope you liked it. I don't know when I'll be able to post the next one, but it's almost ready. Sometimes next week (hopefully), I'll go over it and edit what I don't like. It's funny how I find something wrong or just plain horrible every time I reread my stories. Anyway, like for the previous chapter, Big Pája deserves much credit for making my work look more like English, and less like a bastardization of it. You all say "Thank you!" to him. Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	6. Chapter 6 – Rank

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 6 – Rank

Six months are not a long time, especially to someone who is living for as long as I am. They're just a little, tiny drop in the big jar on which is labeled in clear letters the word 'PAST'. Everyone has their own personal 'PAST' jar. Everyone but me. I don't have a jar. I have a fucking cistern! Which is about to explode by the way, I tell you.

Anyway, a lot can happen in six months. In six months a team of Genins can learn and master the water-walking exercise, an ANBU squad can slip twenty-eight times during its continuous shadowing of a twelve-year-old boy, and a shy girl can slowly get out of her shell in front of her crush. In six months, also, a young Uchiha can manage to dispel one of my Kage Bunshins.

Finally.

I let a small grin make its way through my face as my clone puffs away in a cloud of smoke. His stunned expression is almost as amusing as Sasuke's, which doesn't even disappear when the boy is tossed away by a flying kick from another Naruto. The Uchiha slams into a tree, hard, amidst the cheers of the Kage Bunshins, who compliment him. When he starts to wobblingly stand up, I notice the pleased smile plastered on his face and can't help but chuckle.

"Very good, Sasuke," I say from my usual branch. "You're getting better with your Sharingan, though you still have a long way to go to master your single-tomoe. But considering you first activated it only two months ago, you're doing well." I set my knife aside, while inspecting the wooden dog I'm carving into a thick dark piece of bark. It's almost done. A few details on the paws and fur and little Akamaru will be perfect. "That punch of yours had great speed and good power, but you know what made it so effective against that clone, right?"

The dark-haired boy wipes some sweat off his forehead. "Timing," he says breathing heavily and eying the other four Bunshins spread about the clearing. "I predicted... his movement."

"True enough," I say happily before blowing away some sawdust from my statuette. "He was careless and now he's dead. Don't you like it when the lesson is so straight-forward?"

He grunts something affirmative before charging the nearest clone. I just shake my head as he's sent flying against the same tree as before.

"What did I just say?" I murmur under my breath with a tired sigh.

The match goes on for a little longer and nothing good comes out of it for Sasuke. Heartened by the unexpected victory against that Kage Bunshin, the young Uchiha is now attacking way too hastily and way too soon.

"If your opponent is stalling, giving you the time to recover, the last thing you have to do is restart the fight," I say in a reprimanding tone as the boy stands up again, checking up his abdomen and wincing in pain. "Either you run, if you think he's waiting for allies, or you just rest. Fancy things like surprise attacks are rarely useful in those instances."

I dispel my Kage Bunshins with barely a thought and jump down from the branch I was sitting on, landing right in front of Sasuke. Except for a cracked rib and a bloody lip, the young Uchiha doesn't show any sign of having just suffered a beating. That's an incredibly big improvement compared to how he used to look like after our matches some time ago.

Like six months, for example.

Since that first time he had tried - awkwardly, I might add - to gut me with his kunai, I kicked the living crap out of him almost every single night. It soon became a common thing to see him walking down the streets of Konoha with a bruised and often blistered face. Rumors of every absurd kind started circling about him, rumors involving special missions, ANBU training and - by far my favorite - masochism. The higher-up ninjas in Konoha had to know the truth, of course, since the _real_ ANBU stalking me assisted at our nocturnal fights, but I never caught anyone mentioning my name during the frequent conversations about 'the situation of the last Uchiha', which is still one of the hottest gossip topics in the Village. If Sasuke is bothered by it, he never shows it when parading through Konoha, his head held high.

At night though... at night all the frustration, all the anger, pent up during the day, is liberated in an as much vicious as ineffective attack against a batch of my clones. Soon it became routine seeing him assaulting me so fiercely. Maybe it's just an outlet, maybe it's because of the feeling of helplessness, of desperation, almost, born from his repeated confrontations with opponents far stronger than him, namely me and Kakashi; I don't know... but he's been so fierce these nights... I can't remember him ever being so... _animalistic_, I'd dare say. He doesn't exactly go berserk, but he seems to attack almost without restraints, his instincts, fueled by burning anger, sharpening his thoughts and decision-making processes, and helping him fight in very unconventional ways. It's been fascinating to watch Sasuke like this. There is no 'last Uchiha' in what now became 'our' clearing, and there also isn't that cumbersome mountain of pride that comes with the name. Or at least, there's less of it.

Sometime along the way, the beating turned into teaching without him even realizing it. Now he understands it, of course - though he probably wouldn't admit it, not even under torture - and he's trying to squeeze everything he can out of me without being too obvious. Not that I would care if he just asked... Anyway, it's an indisputable fact that the boy is improving. A lot. Confronting five ninjas fighting more or less at high-Chuunin level is very hard, and beyond impossible for a Genin. It isn't surprising that this was the first time he ever managed to hit one of my Kage Bunshins… on the contrary. That's a really great accomplishment. By the time Konoha hosts the Chuunin exam, he will be more than ready for it. What still has to be seen is how and if he will cooperate with his teammates, but considering Kakashi is his Sensei, I don't think it will be a problem.

"So," I start, tilting my head to the side. "How is the new jutsu going?"

The young Uchiha closes his eyes for a long moment, and when he opens them again, his pupils are black again, the Sharingan deactivated. He smirks at me.

"Good," he says, while performing the necessary seals. When the boulder of rock is hurled in my direction, I just raise a hand - more to make an impression than anything else - and stop it completely. Setting it aside with a dismissive gesture, I smile at Sasuke.

"Not bad. Good control, decent power," I say before pausing for a moment. "The speed, though... Keep on practicing your hand seals. You're still far too slow in passing from the serpent to the bird. Do you want to see the jutsu again?"

He growls at me, but nods his head nonetheless. I almost laugh at his annoyed and at the same time eager expression, while I have no problem with staring at him reprimandingly a second later. We stay still and in silence for something like ten seconds. As the wind blows between us and the crickets sing from all around, I observe his slightly panicked look and keep glaring at his figure lit up by the moonlight.

"What?" he finally says.

I wait for a long moment before answering.

"Who do you think I am?" I say very quietly. "I could sense it before you even molded the chakra."

Sasuke clenches his jaw tightly, stiffening visibly, before finally releasing the genjutsu. His swirling Sharingan, not disguised under the illusion anymore, looks at me with disappointment and annoyance. "How?"

"We've been training together since October," I say rolling my eyes. "You saw me creating an illusion as large as a house. Hell, you saw me _henge_ into a house! How could you think you could fool me with that childish genjutsu?" He starts to say something, but I don't let him. "If you had time to learn how to use that stupid thing, and seal-less to boot, why didn't you _waste_ it on the Earth ninjutsu?"

"If you would just-" the dark-haired boy snaps at me, but I interrupt him once more.

"I'm _not_ going to start that conversation again," I say exasperatedly. "I'm not teaching you any ninjutsu with the Sharingan activated."

"Why not?"

"I already told you, for crying out loud!" I shout back at him.

A child, I swear it. When he acts like this, he seems like a petulant child. And it... it annoys me. Annoys _me_! Stupid, irritable, teenager body!

I take a deep breath as he growls something incomprehensible. I sigh resignedly. I wanted to wait some more before giving him this demonstration, but he's really insufferable right now. I hope he's ready to understand and accept what I'm about to show him, because I'm tired of this whole Sharingan argument.

"Okay, Sasuke. You know what? Activate that damn thing and let's see what good will it do for you."

His eyes bulge out disbelievingly at first, but when my 'concession' finally sinks in, he hurries to comply, excitement evident in his young features. I wait for him to be ready before flashing through the seals swiftly, but not nearly as quickly as I could. That's still way faster than what Sasuke is capable of doing, so I can picture his happy face when the massive boulder rises from the ground and flies through the clearing. I stop it before it could smash the poor tree on its path, and turn expectantly towards the young Uchiha, crossing my arms and waiting.

"So, why don't you give it a try now? Come on!" I add when I see him hesitate.

The boy looks at me with uncertainty for another second before quickly going over the seals. When the jutsu is done and the new boulder is lying harmlessly on the ground, Sasuke doesn't seem to be able to utter a single word. He works his mouth for quite some time, and I let him enjoy his disbelief with great pleasure. I'm surprised he didn't try the jutsu again just to be sure.

"Did it seem faster to you, Sasuke-kun?" I eventually say in a sweet voice. "I can't be sure, seeing as I don't have your precious Sharingan, but you seemed about as fast as the last time."

He's too shocked to get angry at the moment as he whispers under his breath. "I can't believe it. I was sure-"

"You were sure your Sharingan would have copied exactly what I did and how," I say recovering little Akamaru from the ground. I put it in my pocket before looking at the still wide-eyed Sasuke again. "And it did. It's your body that isn't ready for what your eyes saw yet. Take the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu for example. You could learn that easily, even without the Sharingan. But could you perform it?" I shake my head. "Trying to do it would probably kill you, because you don't have the necessary amount of chakra."

"What does that have to do with this?" he snaps at me, a shadow of his annoyance at my direct refusal of teaching him that jutsu surfacing again. He always growls at me when I perform it seal-lessly without giving him the slightest chance to learn it.

"It's simple," I say calmly. "In this case, it's just that your fingers can't move faster than that at the moment. It doesn't matter that your eyes picked up on what to do and informed your brain, which consequently informed the rest of your body. If your fingers have some problems when passing from the serpent to the bird seal and in dozen other tiny parts of the ninjutsu, because those movements aren't ingrained in your cells, then there's nothing your fancy eyes can do! But there's something _you_ can do," I say grinning and raising my hands in front of my face. "You can train your fingers."

He rolls his eyes at me, some of his annoyance apparently gone, but he seems to understand the point. I refrain from telling him I too have the same problem at the start of every one of my lives, though I have lots of ways to go around it, Tajuu Kage Bunshins being the predominant one. When he lowers his eyes to his hands as if he's wondering where the hell did they come from, I speak up again.

"And another thing," I say attracting his attention. "Deactivate the Sharingan."

He complies almost immediately, and I turn completely to face him with a serious expression. When I start slowly making seals with my hands, he seems curious and maybe ready to ask something, until he just blinks and jumps away from me. Right as his feet touch the ground again, a sharp spear of rock seems to come out of nowhere, piercing the spot where he had stood a moment ago. I turn towards him again.

"Do you see?" I ask him, a smile playing on my lips in seeing his wary stance. "You jumped away because you recognized - either consciously or unconsciously - the last string of seals from the ninjutsu from before. Because you trained with it yesterday and probably the night before as well, you knew that those seals were meant to create something out of rock and hurl it forward. So you recognized them and evaded the spear. That wouldn't have happened if I had let you copy the jutsu with the Sharingan from the start. If you had learnt it that way, that group of seals wouldn't have meant anything to you. You would have just known the whole product without being able to understand its every component." I walk to a nearby tree and pick up the orange jacket on the ground. "This is why, even if it is not the fastest way, learning a new jutsu step by step is certainly the best solution."

I pull on the zipper and put my hands in the pockets, immediately enjoying the warmth of the fabric on my skin. It's true that it's already spring, but tonight is a little too windy for my tastes. Plus, I didn't have the chance to personally stretch my muscles, having delegated the task of beating Sasuke exclusively to my clones tonight. Usually I play at least a little part in the ass-kickery. Oh well, tomorrow perhaps...

"That doesn't mean the Sharingan is useless," I resume smirking at the pensive Uchiha. "Its predicting ability is _incredibly_ useful and it's not like you can ask your enemy to 'please teach you his cool techniques', so copying them in battle is a great bonus." Sasuke perks up visibly at that, and I can't help but chuckle a little at him. "_But_," I add stressing the word, "nothing stops you from going over those techniques later, and from trying to truly understand them."

I chuckle some more at his annoyed expression. He really doesn't like it when I, the idiot and dead last, am right about something. But considering that during the first month we trained together he always snapped a scathing comment when that was the case, you could say he improved from that point of view as well.

"Just one more thing," I say turning serious again. "There's another reason why I suggest you learn everything you can through training, though you're free to ignore this one completely, if you want to."

I wait for him to stop poking his cracked rib like an idiot and to finally look at me.

"Ninjas don't like the copying ability of the Sharingan."

The young Uchiha scowls at that. "So what? They're just jealous."

I refrain from rolling my eyes.

"Yes, yes, some of them maybe are indeed jealous," I concede. "But it's more than that. It mostly has to do with everyone's pride. What the Sharingan does in essence is stealing." I block Sasuke's predictable protest by raising a placating hand. "It is, Sasuke, or at least it's something very similar. There's no denying it. But it's not as bad as it sounds." I think about the best way to explain myself without hurting his Uchiha pride. "We as ninjas are thieves. Thieves, kidnappers, assassins... we have to be lots of bad things when our Village requires it. But that's the point. When our Village requires it." I let him mull it over for a couple of seconds before continuing quietly. "And we're not talking about stealing goods here. Or at least, not material ones. We're talking about knowledge and practice, time and experience. Sweat and blood too. There's a mocking aspect in seeing something you had to make an effort to learn being copied right as you perform it that you just can't deny. In an instant. Like this." I snap my fingers to make more of an impression. "That makes the whole thing even harder to accept. And it's even worse when it's something you didn't just learn, but _created_."

Sasuke starts to say something but then closes his mouth, frowning. I decide to make my point clear before he can elaborate what he wants to say.

"But that doesn't matter much anyway. You could argue that it's their problem, not yours. You don't take anything away from them. What they know remains within them, and if it's just their pride that doesn't allow them to accept that there can be someone faster than them in learning a jutsu, then it has nothing to do with you." I shrug my shoulders before covering my head with the orange hood of my jacket. "I think it's your call, Sasuke. I just wanted to explain the situation as I see it to you."

I turn on my heel and jump on a high branch nearby, ready to go home. I gave the young Uchiha a lot to think about for tonight, and I really don't know what will come out of it. I guess I'll see the results soon.

"Well, all this babbling made me tired. There's a man of action under all this orange," I say grinning down at him. "See you tomorrow, Sasuke."

"Yeah. Tomorrow."

His quiet words reach me muffled through the hood, but I easily catch the distracted tone in them. Heh... I think someone will sleep very few hours tonight.

I leave the clearing with an amused smile, wondering if he arrives later than his Sensei at tomorrow's team meeting.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Come on! Hurry up, you lazy idiots! I don't want to be late because of you!"

Ino's screeching voice pierces my ears like a sharp needle as we reach the front doors of the Hokage tower and step inside. We find Asuma there, waiting for us with his back against a marble column of the white entrance hall. When he flanks us and starts climbing the stairs for the upper floors, we greet him and follow his lead.

"Maybe Yusuda-sama asked for help today. The Hokage said it would have been sometime this week," Ino wonders cheerily. "I can't wait to finally go back to the Heart! Aren't you excited?"

Shikamaru just shrugs, seemingly bored as always. "It was just another D-rank."

"How can you say that?!" Ino says shocked. "That was the best mission to date! And to think we barely missed it, last month..." She grits her teeth annoyed. "Damn Team 8..."

I refrained from sighing relieved then, and I refrain from doing it now, but it's a close call. Again. I really can't say I'm saddened that Kurenai and her students took what would have been our second Heart mission... under the current conditions, one is more than enough for my tastes, thank you very much. I don't know if I could have endured another one under Yusuda's hateful gaze.

"Weren't we supposed to train first, today, anyway?" I change the topic with a yawn, stretching my arms above my head. "Didn't you say you were tired of all these D-rank missions, Sensei?"

The bearded Jounin smirks at us, the ever-present cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. "I changed my mind," he says simply. "I didn't particularly care to see the umpteenth spar where you grin at everything, Ino growls annoyed and Shikamaru holds back."

As the only response, I grin at him, and I _know_ Ino is barely suppressing her growl at Asuma's chuckles.

"Admit it, Sensei," I nudge him with my elbow. "You couldn't think of anything suitable to teach us."

The Hokage's son just shrugs, looking appropriately guilty.

"And they say I'm the lazy one," Shikamaru comments with a bored expression.

"You are," Ino scoffs at him.

The young Nara mumbles something under his breath, but the girl must have heard it, because she immediately rounds on him.

"What did you just say?" she shrills in her high-pitched voice.

"No business of yours. Keep moving," he replies gesturing for her to start walking up the stairs again. "And try not to screech like a banshee while you're at it."

There was no doubt she would have done exactly the opposite if Asuma hadn't stepped between the two with a finger held up.

"No bickering, please," he says seriously. "I just woke up."

I snort at him right as we enter the antechamber leading to the mission-assignment room, fortunately in silence if not for Ino's sputtering. As we approach the Hokage's assistant seated at a desk next to the door, I see him hesitate a little before waving us in. I frown at the man as Asuma opens the door and walks in, taking another long drag from his cigarette.

Once inside, I distractedly join the others in greeting the Hokage. I say distractedly because there's another thing in the room that attracts my immediate attention. That's the team standing in front of his long desk, or more precisely, it's the team members' expressions. This is the first time I see Team Gai in this life, and it wouldn't make for a great first impression if I burst out laughing in their faces. Still, I'm as much curious as amused as I try to control my features in observing them. I wonder why they all have these hilariously disappointed expressions on their faces. Lee's is particularly funny. The boy seems literally heartbroken.

"Asuma," Gai says nodding to his fellow Jounin, his usually blinding smile nowhere to be seen. "I'm sorry for the lack of youthfulness in our welcoming faces. We were just hoping it was someone else."

The Hokage's son shrugs his shoulders. "Don't worry. I don't think my students are all that youthful themselves, anyway."

"Yoshi, don't say that!" the man shouts, while looking at us. "Maybe you just didn't fuel their fire hard enough!"

"Yeah, maybe," Asuma says with... let's say with less enthusiasm than the spandex-clad ninja. "Anyway, who were you expecting exactly? Our Naruto here has the useful ability to be whoever you want him to be. Precisely."

I roll my eyes at his smirk, but decide to indulge him by turning a second later into a barely dressed Mitarashi Anko. Not that she usually wears anything but see-through fishnet, but whatever. I elicit a slight nose-bleeding from both Sarutobis and a long series of choked coughs from the youthful Green Beast of Konoha. Lee's eyes are as wide as they can get, while Neji's eyebrows do the opposite of Tenten's and lower slightly above his activated Byakugan. Shikamaru just shakes his head, but I catch him looking at my well-endowed chest for a brief moment.

Ah, puberty. Finally.

The only one to speak is, predictably, Ino.

"Naruto," she growls dangerously. "I'm giving you three seconds. One-"

I'm already back to normal before she can say two. I don't want to dodge her punches all day. I wink at her, while maintaining an innocent smile at the same time.

"Well," Gai manages to say once his coughing fit ends. "That's a really useful ability, if not exactly youthful." He clears his throat uncomfortably. "But it's not what we need either. We were just waiting for any experienced Genin or at the most Chuunin team to act as support for my students on their very first B-rank mission. The Hokage had finally agreed to let my youthful pupils prove themselves with a harder challenge, at the condition that the next appropriate team to enter the room would be assigned as support."

Lee nods his head sadly, and I'm already picturing him holding his head in his hands if no one comes in in the next thirty seconds.

"We'll be your supporting team."

It's Ino's turn to start coughing now at Asuma's words. We all turn to him with surprised expressions, but the Jounin has eyes only for the Hokage. I too turn towards the Sandaime with a hopeful and expectant face.

"Asuma!" the old Sarutobi exclaims shocked. "What are you saying? You didn't even try a C-rank mission, yet!"

"This one won't be a problem for my team. Don't worry, Hokage-sama," the young Sarutobi says shrugging.

"But you don't even know what kind of mission it is!"

"We'll just be the supporting team, and if you're assigning it to be the first B-rank of Gai's students, then it means it's just a C-rank with a little twist," Asuma says waving dismissively with his hand. "I know how it works, old man."

The lack of gasp from Shikamaru tells me he finally knows our Sensei is the Hokage's son. Ino, though, is completely frozen on her spot. She's probably scared the team will get in trouble for this disrespectful behavior. I glance at the other ninjas present in the room and notice that only Lee and Neji seem surprised as they look up at their Sensei, uncertain. Tenten already knew about the father and son, probably, considering she's just looking curiously at the Hokage, hoping he will accept the request.

"How can you expect me to give you this mission?" the Professor asks his son, ignoring the 'commotion' in the room.

Asuma is absolutely calm as his eyes shift briefly to me. "We're ready, Hokage-sama."

The old Sarutobi too glances at one Uzumaki Naruto, disbelief written all over his face, before shaking his head. A second later, he lowers his eyes as he lets out something suspiciously snort-like. When he looks up again, a negative answer is evidently about to leave his mouth.

That is until he meets Lee's almost desperate eyes.

They are shining so brightly with unshed tears that they're painful just to watch, and so big they practically take up most of his face. The bowl-like cut of his black hair serves only to highlight the effect, not to mention the thick eyebrows. Shikamaru must probably be thinking the guy is constipated or something. I refrain from laughing as the Sandaime shakes his head again.

"Very well," he eventually says, staring hard at his son. A delighted expression makes its way through Lee's face at these words, and I too can't help the cheer that escapes my lips. The Hokage ignores it all as he continues. "Team Gai will act as the primary team during this mission, so you and your Genins will have to report to them for every direction." He produces a sealed scroll from behind his desk and hands it to Gai, who takes it almost reverently with both hands. He shows it to his students, and Lee practically starts to worship it.

"I can't believe it," I say chuckling at the Hokage and pointing at Lee. "You just fell for his Puppy-Dog Eyes no Jutsu!"

I grin at the Sandaime, who sighs resignedly in answer.

"Maybe I did," he concedes lighting up his pipe.

"Really, Ojiisan... I would never have fallen for that," I say amused. "Maybe you should just give me the position already and be done with it."

A small smile appears on his lips.

"From what I hear," he says quietly, "it wouldn't be so far-fetched."

My pleased grin widens a little more as I scratch the back of my head. "Eh-eh... where do I find an application?"

The Sandaime looks at me with amusement for another second, before turning his attention to the two Jounin Senseis in the room. "Go now. This mission is not exactly high priority, but time is of the essence nonetheless."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

We depart the room quickly and a minute later we are standing outside the tower. Asuma and Gai open the scroll and scan it intently. They both start to say something at the same time and immediately interrupt themselves awkwardly. Then the Hokage's son gestures for the other Jounin to speak, and the official leader of the Mission takes the stage.

"Okay then. You all should know how to prepare for a long mission," he says looking inquisitively at us of Team 10. After our nods, he resumes seriously. "We'll be out of Konoha for at least a week, two if something doesn't go exactly as planned. Prepare yourselves for the trip with slightly heavier clothes. We're not going to Snow country here, but the little town we're headed to stands at a high altitude." He briefly scans the scroll again, before saving it in his vest. "The meeting point is at the western gate. Be there in an hour. We'll discuss the details of the mission during the trip. Go!"

We all jump away immediately, almost every one of us in different directions. I follow Lee's lead for a few miles and can't help but chuckle at the curious looks the boy tosses me as we run forward. He speeds up slightly towards the end and we share a grin as he tries to shake me off without succeeding. He even seems disappointed when I take a different street, and I'm tempted to create a clone and make him continue the game, but in the end, I decide not to. He'll have enough occasions to test me - or more probably himself - during the mission.

I can't help but be excited about it as I jump on my building's roof and enter my apartment. Yes, it's probably a C-rank mission disguised as a B-rank, but it always means we will probably have to fight someone for real. As much as I have fun training and sparring with my teammates, I miss life-or-death situations and the thrill that comes with them. And judging by the Kyuubi's cackles, I think he misses them too.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Kunai?"

"Check."

"Shuriken?"

"Check."

"Explosive tags?"

"Check."

"Katana?"

"I never had one!"

"Tsukiyoshi?"

"I don't even know what that is!"

"Yurizashiri?"

"Stop making them up, Naruto!"

This is the scene greeting the perplexed members of Team Gai as they swiftly walk up to the western gate of Konoha. Shikamaru is busy doing what he likes the most - looking up at the clouds - while I enjoy teasing Ino who is smiling despite herself. I managed to relax her a little. When I arrived here, she was already in front of the gate, shifting from one foot to the other nervously. Upon seeing me, she immediately asked to be questioned about the right procedure about long missions and mixed ones. I tried to tell her that this wasn't an exam and that no one was going to grade her performance, but my soothing approach didn't seem to produce any effect. So I changed it to jokes. That seemed to calm her a little. Plus, seeing her eyes bulge when I mentioned a fancy procedure regarding what to do with dirty underwear was fun for me as well. Anyway, Shikamaru arrived grumbling some minutes later, and he immediately sat down on the grass, eyes pointed up at the sky. I tried to ask him what was up, and he just mumbled something about troublesome B-rank missions. I left him alone at that point, but saw him grinning at some of my idiotic jokes for Ino.

I gesture for him to stand up when our fellow Genins join us, and he complies lazily, a hand in his pocket and the other holding his bag.

"So, Team Gai," I say clapping my hands. "It sounds awful calling you that. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you. These are Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru." As the girl greets our temporary teammates, I frown at the boy. "Say 'hi', Shika."

The young Nara grumbles something that sounds nothing like 'hi', but at least waves his hand at the others.

"Uhm... Nice to meet you too. I'm Tenten, and I hope we will be able to cooperate on this mission," the girl says with a small smile. I show her one of my own as she shrugs her bag off her shoulders and on the ground. Knowing her - and I _really__ do_ know her - she has packed everything pointed and sharp she had at home, and she probably went to her father's shop as well to take one or two fancier weapons to try during the mission.

Lee bows his head deeply at us. "Hello, I'm Rock Lee. Nice to meet you!" he shouts jovially, pumping a fist in the air. "I'll work hard to make myself useful during this week, and if I can't, then I'll run thirty laps around Konoha on my hands!"

I grin amused, while my two teammates look at him with wary eyes. "Ah, I see that the great taijutsu master Maito Gai has found a worthy student with whom to share his youthful enthusiasm," I say amused.

Lee's pupils widen like black dishes inside his bulged eyes. "You know of Gai-sensei?"

"If I know of Gai?" I repeat incredulously. "Of course! Who doesn't know the Green Beast of Konoha, rumored to be able to open five of the eight celestial gates! Though I suspect he can open even more…" I glance briefly towards an impressed Gai, hidden with Asuma under a strong genjutsu. What's with Senseis spying on their Genins, anyway?

I see Tenten's interested look, while Lee cringes a little when I mention the gates, his eyes shifting for a moment to Neji. I ignore it all as I turn expectantly towards the young Hyuuga. He just looks back at me without a trace of emotion on his face and body, until the littlest crease forms between his pale eyes.

"Hyuuga Neji," he says simply, and I try to turn my following chuckle into a harmless cough.

"Okay," I say eventually. "So we have a taijutsu expert, a weapon expert and a Jyuuken user here." I gesture towards Team Gai. "And we have a lazy bastard, a pretty girl and an idiot, here." I gesture at myself before grinning. "Well, that's bound to be good."

"Why are we letting Naruto speak for us again?" Shikamaru asks Ino, rolling his eyes.

The girl has a faint blush on her cheeks as she answers. "Well, he was rather accurate, right?" She searches for approval from a surprised Tenten, and the girl slowly nods her head in agreement.

The young Nara only shakes his head.

"Come on, Shika," I say thumping his arm with my fist lightly. "You know that if it wasn't for me, we would have to endure thirty seconds of uncomfortable silence before finally settling to talk about the weather. You're this boring." I smirk at him as he traps me with his clan jutsu, scowling. "Oh, you know I'm just kidding. Don't be touchy."

His shadow retreats a second later under Neji's impassive gaze.

"So, this is your first B-rank mission," I say smiling at Tenten. "How do you feel about it? Are you nervous?"

"Are you?" the young Hyuuga asks back. "Maybe this is why you're talking this much."

"Neji," Tenten says in a warning tone.

"Hmmm," I murmur looking pensively. "Aren't you a member of the clan which prides itself in being able to read everyone's emotions? What do you see?"

He actually activates his eyes after hesitating an instant and looks at me for a long moment. The slightest sign of tension on his shoulders tells me my chakra coils impress him - or maybe it has something to do with my version of the Henge from before - and when the Byakugan disappears again, he finally speaks up. He didn't notice the little lines of chakra betraying the presence of a genjutsu nearby, so his eyes aren't fully developed yet. But in his defense, Gai's genjutsu is really top-notch.

"Not being nervous doesn't mean anything," he says lamely. "You're probably fool enough to not understand what risks going on a B-rank mission represents."

"Neji, this is very unyouthful of you!" Lee says grimly, raising a finger towards his teammate.

"Oh no, Lee. He's right. I've never even been to a C-rank mission, so I really don't know what to expect here," I say smiling, while Ino and Shikamaru frown in my direction. "It means I'll just follow your lead from now on. We're the supporting team, after all, right Sensei?"

I chuckle lightly as everyone but me startles badly when Asuma pops up apparently out of nowhere, followed by Gai barely a second later.

"You're correct, Naruto," the bearded Jounin says cheerily. "Our role during this mission will be marginal at best. Gai will explain everything as we go, for there's little time to waste. Are you ready?"

A chorus of yes answers his question, and in a couple of minutes we're past the Chuunins on guard and outside the gate. It will be good to not be watched over by my ever-present shadows. I glace back at the three hidden ANBU still at the gate before turning towards my enlarged team again. As we start walking through Konoha's forest, the Green Beast starts laying out the details of the mission.

"The mission requires our presence in a little town at five days of marching from here. We should be there in one, 'cause once I finish explaining the mission, I'll pick up the pace," Gai says from behind the group, flanked by his most youthful student. Lee is armed with notebook and pen as he listens intently, jotting down whatever he deems important coming out of his Sensei's mouth. That is to say everything. "The client is a certain Shintei Takeru who is one of the most important merchants of the area, dealing in pottery and furniture."

I tilt my head to the side at that. "I know the name," is my quiet comment. "I think he's famous." Or maybe I met him, I add to myself. There's a high probability of that as well.

"I've never heard of him, but I'm not much into pottery and furniture," Asuma says shrugging. "That reminds me..." he then murmurs as an afterthought."I have to change my armchair. The thing is falling to pieces."

I hold my snort like I'm sure someone else is doing as well, while Gai resumes his explanation as if no one had interrupted him.

"A message arrived earlier this morning requesting for Konoha to send someone to protect Takeru-sama's only daughter from one of his business rivals until next Sunday. So the mission is essentially a guarding task."

"...guarding task," Lee murmurs, his pen skipping on the notepad.

"Right," Gai says beaming down at him. "Yesterday morning, a group of bandits attacked her carriage and almost managed to kidnap the little girl. Immediately after that, he sent us a falcon with the help request and pretty much half the payment for a B-rank mission."

I whistle at that, and seeing Lee's and Ino's questioning gaze, Tenten speaks up.

"It's pretty rare for someone to use something different than a pigeon, let alone a falcon, to send a message. And to pay half the price in advance..." the brunette says impressed. "The guy must be rather rich."

"Or desperate," I add seriously.

The girl nods her head at me in agreement, while Lee jots the entire thing down.

"Anyway," Gai starts again. "The facts are these. Next Sunday, Takeru-sama will conclude a big business contract with a notorious nobleman of the Land of Fire's capital, which will give him a lot of prestige. His rival wants to block that, but the client is protected at all times by a large group of bodyguards, so no harm can be done to him... or so he says." The tone of his last words makes it clear how much the Jounin trusts the civilian's opinion on this matter. "Anyway, the first attack seems to reflect this, considering it targeted the daughter when he and his guards were not there, probably to force him to back away from the contract under threat of her death. However, the girl somehow managed to escape and take refuge at home, while his three guards fought and died for her, but Takeru-sama is sure his rival won't stop here and will send more bandits. Many more."

Here the Green Beast of Konoha stops, turning to Asuma with a small indulging smile. The Hokage's son has an eerie glint in his eyes as he speaks up, the cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"But we'll be there for them."

I can't help it. While Lee shouts his approval, I crack up, laughing wildly. I shake my head towards the two Jounins.

"You rehearsed that?" I ask them amused.

"Of course," Asuma says rolling his eyes. "Did you see how they reacted?" he asks gesturing towards the other Genins. "Even Shikamaru looked excited when I said that!"

"Neji too," Gai adds much to the Hyuuga's displeasure. "For a moment, I saw the Will of Fire burning brightly in his cold eyes."

"Why was I given the most atypical Genin that ever existed, anyway?" Asuma groans softly with a sigh. "I swear it, Naruto... sometimes you act like an old man. You know... the kind you meet at the park, feeding the pigeons and smiling at the world as if they knew something the others don't?" I chuckle at the image as the Hokage's son goes on. "You seem one of them, but disguised as a dumb kid."

"Hey!" I shout in protest, but then smile slyly at him. "But except for the dumb part, you may be right. Hell, I could be an immortal creature trapped inside this young body, for all you know."

Gai's shocked eyes bulge outwards for a moment, before a strange gulping sound resonates from his throat. I'm strongly reminded of all the lives I spent as his student, teammate or simply friend, as the taijutsu master booms out in laughter. I knew what was coming, thanks to the unforgettable gulp which always comes before Gai's amused explosion, and I had the time and reflexes to cover my ears with my hands to avoid being deafened. The others aren't that lucky though, and everyone now is experiencing a bad case of ringing ears. Except for Lee, of course. Spending all that time with his idol trained him to recognize the danger and react accordingly. The boy's pinkies leave his ears with equal soft pops as he chuckles lightly with his Sensei.

When Gai's laughter finally subsides, he looks at me through eyes shining with tears.

"An immortal creature..." he repeats breathlessly before laughing again, genuinely amused."Want me to name you the Orange Beast of Konoha?"

"Oh, I don't know..." I say looking thoughtful. "Would I have to switch to spandex?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Hmmm," is the sound of pleasure escaping my lips. "I have to say it, Gai-sensei. Jokes aside, the rabbit is absolutely delicious!"

The Jounin smiles pleased at me from above the big pot where the marvelous little animal is still brewing. A small cloud of water vapor is hovering there, mixed with mouth-watering aromas of onions, carrots and celery, and slightly blurring the hilarious image of the Green Beast of Konoha wearing an apron. When he suddenly appeared dressed like that after we had set up camp, we of Team 10 couldn't help but burst out laughing, though Ino managed to contain her giggles a little. Lee didn't seem to understand what was wrong and turned his head around a few times to try and see what was so funny. From their part, Neji and Tenten didn't comment.

Gai didn't seem bothered by our amusement, though, and accepted with a smirking face every joke Asuma tossed his way. Now that my Sensei has practically licked his own plate clean, the smirk on the taijutsu master's face is even wider. As we finish our meal, he finally sits down with us, a steaming serving of rabbit in his hands, and jumps on it with gusto.

"Gai-sensei is a fantastic cook," Lee says at one point, eyes shining with something akin to worship. "We were out in the desert for a mission once," he whispers to us of Team 10 in a confidential tone, "and there were just rocks, sand and small lizards. I can't tell you in words how yummy they were!"

Ino makes a disgusted face at that, but Gai just smiles amusedly, patting the big pot behind. "You'd be surprised by what can be done with just a big pot, a little salt and a lot of effort!" he says with enthusiasm. Needless to say, Lee's eyes start shining even more.

"Is the apron necessary too?" Asuma asks with a small grin, standing up to take another helping.

"Of course it is!" is the other's immediate answer, and the Hokage's son shakes his head.

"I never even imagined I could have told you this, but... Gai, I like you better in just spandex. Why don't you put that thing away?"

The Green Beast of Konoha frowns, slightly annoyed at him. "Asuma, either you shut it or put the rabbit back. You can't enjoy my food and complain about my apron at the same time."

Asuma's eyes shift from Gai to his steaming plate and back. "I'll keep quiet," he says seriously before adding as an afterthought. "Please."

I laugh out loud at that with Ino and Tenten, while Shikamaru just snorts as the taijutsu expert nods his head apparently satisfied, mirrored by Lee a second later.

I turn towards Neji and see him staring at me with intent eyes. Not activated, fortunately... I would have worried if that had been the case.

"What?" I ask him, bringing a napkin up to my lips. "Is there something on my face?"

I get no answer from him as he continues to watch me. It isn't a glare, not really. It's a detached look, exactly the one you usually give a painting you say you don't like, while you in reality don't understand but don't want your friends to know. I guess I appear as something abstract in his eyes.

"Neji," Tenten says in a reprimanding tone, without even raising her eyes from the kitchen knife she's examining. "Don't stare at Naruto. It's rude."

"Heh," he huffs, turning away from me. "All that orange was hurting my eyes, anyway." He shakes his head, apparently disgusted. "A ninja dressed in orange..."

I chuckle a little in remembering something I often teased him about in some of my past lives and which always made him angry. I ponder whether to say it or not while sipping water from my flask. I speak up, eventually. "Says the one dressed as a girl."

His head snaps immediately in my direction and his pale eyes narrow while looking at me, but before he can say anything, Ino steps in.

"You're the last one who can talk about someone else's choice of clothes, Naruto," she says wrinkling her nose at me before pausing with a small smile. "With the exception of Gai-sensei's apron, maybe."

We laugh amused at that, and the little moment of awkwardness passes over. I don't know if that was Ino's intention, but I guess it was. The nice stunt also gets her a pleased smile from Asuma, although that could have something to do with the joke about Gai.

"What are you doing, Tenten-san?" the young Yamanaka asks politely after a minute of silence, looking at the dark-haired girl curiously.

"Oh, this?" the weapon expert asks, showing the knife in her hands. At Ino's nod, she balances it on her finger, the pointed end harmlessly pressing her index's tip, while she tilts her head to the side. "I was just wondering about what would be the best way to use it in battle. I think a reversed grip could be useful against numerous opponents, where you'd need to put an end to the fight quickly and you couldn't spare much time for precision. Otherwise," she says taking the blade between her fingers, "its best use would definitely be in throwing."

She demonstrates this by piercing a tree trunk nearby, exactly in the middle of a peculiar black spot on its clear brown bark. The light of our fire glimmers slightly over the blade until Shikamaru's hand wraps around the knife's handle and pulls it out. The young Nara looks at me for a moment before passing the knife back to Tenten who is grinning from ear to ear.

"So you really are a weapon expert," Ino says thoughtfully, looking in my direction and finding me smiling.

"Oh, that reminds me," Tenten says snapping her fingers. "How did you know that, Naruto?"

"You mean your skills?" I ask, and my smile turns into a grin in seeing Lee nodding his head forcefully. "Well that was quite easy actually. You have more holsters hidden in your clothes than what's normal, and you have to admit that the long tsuka sticking out of your bag isn't really hidden." I snort lightly. "It's not like I could think it was a tennis racket or something similar either. As for Lee..." I say shifting my eyes to him. "Well, I already knew Gai-sensei, and if their... _similar_ appearances weren't proof enough, the way Lee moves would have surely been a give-away of his taijutsu expert status. Neji, of course, was the easiest to understand, all with his pale eyes, clan dress and angry stance of a Hyuuga branch member." His eyes narrow a little, but I just shrug his glare off. "Am I wrong?"

It takes a little while for him to decide, but he answers me eventually. "No," he says without showing any emotion. "You're not wrong."

I wait to see if something else is coming before speaking up again. "It's horrible what they do to the branch members," I say quietly. "The cage seal is a barbaric tradition that should be forbidden immediately. When I'll become Hokage, that will be one of the first things I'll do."

The sentence is greeted with a stunned silence from the members of Team Gai, while Ino and Shikamaru just keep on looking curiously, not knowing exactly what I'm talking about. I catch Ino mouthing 'Cage Seal?' to me, but I just shake my head at her once.

Neji doesn't really know what to say. Poor boy... he thought he had somewhat understood me, or maybe even that my joking self-introduction as 'an idiot' was true, but now he's not so sure anymore. I better give him a hand out of this uncomfortable situation and topic.

"Well," I say cheerily, clapping my hands. "Ino, didn't you have a question to ask?"

The girl slowly nods her head. "What's the Cage Seal?"

I close my eyes, though I can't help but chuckle a little. "Sorry. Not that one," I sigh. So much for changing the topic. "I meant the one you wanted to ask Sensei, earlier this afternoon."

"Oh, that one. Be clearer next time!" she snaps at me, reddening slightly. I just grin at her as she turns to Asuma. "Sensei, why is this mission considered a B-rank and not a C-rank? We're just going to guard a little girl from some bandits." She conceals her nervousness about it rather well for a Genin, though considering who's present here in this clearing, there are maybe two ninjas who didn't notice. "I mean, that seems exactly like a textbook C-rank mission to me."

Asuma smiles a little as he slurps down the broth. "You're right. This would be a normal C-rank mission if it wasn't for two _little_ particularities." He sets down the plate. "Care to try and guess what they are?" he asks grinning. "Anyone?"

Shikamaru rolls his eyes. "Do we answer by a show of hands?"

"No, I don't think that's necessary," the bearded Jounin says chuckling. "But, please; do share your thoughts with the class, Shikamaru."

The young Nara sighs softly before answering. "First, a C-rank mission usually presents the _possibility_ of fighting against weak opponents," he says lolling his head lazily towards Ino. "For this mission, a battle seems pretty much a certainty for us."

The boy's emphasis on the last words isn't lost to anyone, but Asuma and I are the only ones to understand its exact purpose. Even Shikamaru himself doesn't. I catch the Jounin's eyes and two identical smiles appear on our faces. No matter how many insults and scathing comments they exchange every day, Shikamaru and Ino really care for each other. That's crystal clear to us. What the young Nara is doing here - without even realizing it, but totally meaning it - is preparing her for what is about to come and reassuring her by saying he'll be there too.

As Ino's expression turns from worried to relieved and finally to determined, Asuma takes a small sip from his flask. "And what's the second reason why this is classified as a B-rank mission?"

Shikamaru turns his head slowly back towards the Hokage's son. Then he shrugs. "Because it's paid as one."

"What?" Lee shouts, failing to contain his disbelief. "What does that mean?"

"Just that," Tenten explains, still toying distractedly with that same knife. "The client sent enough money for a B-rank mission. It means he wants the services that such a rank entails. It doesn't matter that we think it's a task that could require the same effort and ability as a C-rank. If a client wants something, the Hokage has to give it to him."

"Correct," Gai says smiling blindingly at the girl.

"Though in this case, it's a little different," Asuma adds, "because, for this mission, the Hokage did not send the usual experienced team including at least a Chuunin together with some Genins and a Jounin Sensei, but he allowed a double team of simple Genins to 'prove themselves with a harder challenge'. Though this is compensated for by the presence of two Jounins."

Asuma's grin is soon mirrored by Gai's first and Lee's then.

"That's because he fell for my Puppy-Dog Eyes no Jutsu!" the boy shouts pumping a victorious fist in the air. When our laughter subsides, though, his eyes are definitely less bright and amused than before. "Still," he says quietly, "I'm disappointed."

"Yoshi, Lee!" the Green Beast of Konoha exclaims in horror. "Why is that?"

"It's just…" he starts in a sullen voice, avoiding his Sensei's eyes. "It's just that I thought this would _really_ be a harder challenge! I wanted to test myself in a real B-rank mission and not just in a fake one!"

Gai seems shocked at first, before finally smiling knowingly. I wait for him to say something but he doesn't seem intent on doing it, so I pipe up.

"Don't worry too much about that, Lee," I say grinning. "Didn't anyone ever tell you Ryuugi's Law about ninjas' first times? No?"

He shakes his head, furrowing his quite impressive eyebrows, and I notice that every Genin except Tenten is looking at me curiously. The girl is just chuckling softly, while sharpening the kitchen knife with a long kunai.

"It's an unavoidable truth of the shinobi world. All the legendary ninja Ryuugi did was put it in words, and he wasn't even all that inspired when he did that. Tenten," I tell the girl with a nod of my head, "you know it needs two to recite it, right?"

She snorts lightly. "Right."

"Okay, here it is," I say before clearing my voice. "_Think it's best accepting fast_," I chant wisely, and the girl follows me a second later.

"_First is rash, ends in dash!_" she finishes dissolving into laughter amidst the perplexed looks of the other Genins.

"Everyone reacts like this when first hearing it," Asuma says chuckling in seeing the dubious kids surrounding him.

"But everyone finds out it's true eventually nonetheless," Gai adds amused.

"Errr…" Ino mutters circumspectly, shifting her eyes from me to Shikamaru. "What does that mean?"

"It means," I say looking at her and at Lee, grinning, "that every first experience a shinobi has is destined to get complicated, often in a bad way. And this mission won't be an exception."

"Someone calls it 'rookie luck' and I honestly don't know whether to believe it or not," Tenten admits shaking her head. "My father, grandfather and uncle swore it's true, but they were laughing when they said that." She frowns at this point. "Though that could have been because of Ryuugi's Law which they told me later…" she murmurs before brightening visibly, resuming her work on the knife. "Oh well, I guess I'll know it soon!"

"Probably tomorrow already," I say grinning excitedly. "And considering it's everyone's first B-rank and we of Team 10 even skipped the 'C stage', then things are _bound_ to get interesting."

It takes another second for Lee to process everything, as his eyes widen and his mouth opens up. Then he lets out a loud whoop, standing up quickly and doing a back flip.

"Ah, Lee, my youthful student," Gai says relieved. "I never doubted the brightness of your Will of Fire!"

"Gai-sensei!" the boy in spandex shouts immediately.

"Lee!" the Green Beast of Konoha shouts back.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

I can't help but laugh as I witness for the first time in this existence one of Gai and Lee's infamous shouting matches. And I can't help but smile sadly as I remember those few lives in which my name was part of the rotation as well. Noticing the disturbed look on Shikamaru's face, my smile turns again into full blown laughter as Tenten shakes her head. Sipping from my cup of tea, I meet Neji's unreadable gaze, and am reminded again of my status of abstract picture in his eyes.

"Yes," I murmur amused. "Things are bound to get interesting."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It's late afternoon of the next day when we finally reach the little town that is our destination, after roughly ten hours of running non-stop. Gai had set a very fast pace at first, but soon understood that Ino and Shikamaru wouldn't have lasted much longer like that, because of their low chakra reserves. Team Gai has a year of training in addition compared to them, after all. He settled for a more sedated run, eventually, which made us arrive here slightly later than what had been his original estimation, but with everyone in good physical conditions and ready for our first B-rank mission.

"Here we are," the Green Beast of Konoha says excitedly. "This is Lore town, where our client, Shintei Takeru, lives. His house should be on the other side, beyond those trees over there." He points towards a group of large white ashes a little isolated from the town itself, and we immediately start moving in its direction, amidst Lee's cheers. I just smile at him before giving my complete attention to Lore.

I look around at the few little houses of the periphery and have to refrain from frowning too evidently.

'_I know this place,_' I tell the Kyuubi, blinking at a strange and at the same time familiar shop built like a rook. '_Why do I know this place?_'

'_Hmmm… Shintei… Shintei…_' The Fox utters the name as if trying to remember something about it. '_I think he's famous,_' he says parroting what I had said the previous day, before starting to howl in gleeful laughter.

'_Hey! Who is he?_' I snap in reply, a little irritated at being mocked by the bastard. '_Not every one of us has a demon-like memory. Why don't you answer me instead of laughing like an idiot?_'

The Kyuubi seems very happy to ignore my request, seeing as he just keeps on cackling in my head. I don't sever our mental connection in the probably vain hope he'll decide to enlighten me, but I carefully cache his reaction in a corner of my mind to use to my advantage in the future. People say I can't hold a grudge, but the bastard inside of me knows better. Or should at least.

I grit my teeth in annoyance, following Gai-sensei and the others diligently through the very familiar-looking town, and as we take a large street leading to a big manor visible behind those ashes in the distance, I'm finally struck by an epiphany.

I've been to lots of places during my countless lives, some too boring to remember, others just too distant in the past, and the same goes for people and names. But I should have immediately remembered who Shintei was, though in my defense I could say I am used to another name following that one, not 'Takeru'.

I can't help a large grin from making its way to my face as I realize that the little girl I'm assigned to protect during this mission is Shintei Heiki, host of the five-tailed demon sparrow-hawk.

I chuckle lightly. "That's funny," I murmur under my breath.

"What is?" Ino asks curiously, a step behind me. Her face is a little flushed, but more because of the cold than because of fatigue. The area we travelled to stands at a rather high altitude, and the temperature has lowered significantly today. And now that I think about it, I remember spending a couple of winters here in Lore and how fascinating it was to see the little creek behind Heiki's house freeze over practically under my eyes. That was a great sight.

"Nothing. Just lost in memories, you know?" I tell Ino honestly, glancing briefly at her.

"Good ones?" she asks.

"Oh, definitely." I answer her smile with one of my own.

"Maybe you'll tell me someday, when we have time," she says almost eagerly, reddening a little, and my smile widens even more at that.

"Time, huh?" I repeat chuckling. "That's one thing I'm not short of."

We fall into silence as we continue to walk up the hill towards Shintei Manor, but internally I restart my previous conversation with the Fox.

'_Thank you for nothing, bastard,_' I huff, internally clicking my tongue. '_I remembered it on my own._'

'_It was about time,_' the Kyuubi says haughtily, amusement still lacing his deep voice.

'_Hey, you can't blame me,_' I defend myself.'_It's not like I spent that much time with little Heiki. After all, she often dies early in my lives, all with the extraction of her bijuu by either Akatsuki, Iwa or whoever finds out about her first._' I pause thoughtfully for an instant. '_I wonder if this mission has something to do with that and not with her father's business like Gai said._'

The Fox barks out a sudden laugh. '_Let's hope it's like that,_' he says excitedly. '_It would be more fun than slaughtering some harmless bandits._'

I scoff at him, shaking my head, but immediately focus on the surroundings, my senses in alert for potential dangers. If this mission involves Akatsuki or ninjas from other Villages interested in the five-tailed beast, then things could get really ugly. I spare my fellow Genins a worried glance as we finally enter the ashes and reach the huge iron fence of Shintei Manor. We all understand at once that something significant has happened.

Part of the high wall on the left side of us has crumbled down - possibly under a jutsu or some kind of explosive – leaving a fairly large hole through which to enter the property itself. Visible beyond the iron gate and the opening is a large number of what appear as bodyguards, muscular man in black clothes and glasses, all running around in the bewildering way of organized chaos. Some shouted words reach us despite the quite obvious silencing seals on the walls - probably damaged by whatever happened here – and the distressed tone in them isn't promising at all.

When one of the four men distractedly guarding the opening in the wall notices us, he startles badly, almost jumping in place, before drawing his blade and shouting to attract the others' attention.

Anyway, before anyone can do anything, Maito Gai is already presenting the Hokage scroll and what is presumably the letter sent to Konoha by Shintei Takeru to the alarmed men, showing both papers in the least threatening way possible. When he speaks up, it's in a clear and firm voice.

"We're the team from Konoha sent here under Takeru-sama's request," the spandex-clad Jounin says taking a step forward and gesturing for us to stay where we are. "From the look of things, I think it's of the utmost priority that we see the person in charge immediately. Please, let us in."

What follows is a moment of uncertainty as more bodyguards crowd around the wall and the crumbled portion of the fence. Then a very large man shoulders his way to the front of the gate and is soon followed by two more figures. I recognize the third one immediately as Shintei Takeru, a stout, almost bald man with kind eyes, at the moment widened in extreme anxiety. Now that I see him, I remember him as Heiki's beloved father, and it doesn't take me much to understand that something bad has happened to his daughter.

"Open the fence!" Takeru-sama orders in a breathless and frantic voice.

"But sir-" the large man - probably the security head - starts before being interrupted.

"Open it!" he shouts again, and from what I can remember, this is an incredibly impressive demonstration of firmness for him.

When the fence slowly parts to let us in, we're immediately surrounded by roughly half a hundred bodyguards, a black sea of heavily built men. The short and plump Takeru is easily noticed though, standing inside the circle of bodyguards, together with the security head and the third figure from before, who is almost an eye-sore in his scarlet vest against all that black.

"Here are the papers," Gai says at once, offering them to Takeru with a serious expression. "Takeru-sama, I presume."

The man nods his head, quickly taking the two documents and glancing briefly at the first before scanning intently the second for a long minute. Once finished, he saves them in a pocket of his expensive-looking suit, and every one of us notices the slight tremble in his hands. When he finally looks up again, his desperate eyes have already told me what I needed to know.

"Please, help me," he whispers in a feeble voice. "They took my daughter."

Gai's expression steels in a ruthless mask as he nods his head. "We will bring her back to you soon, Takeru-sama," he says with certainty.

As the frightened father lets out a relieved breath he didn't even know he was holding, I can't help but think that things could be a little more difficult than what Gai hopes.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Author's notes – The situation about the five-tailed beast will be explained in the next chapter. Try to not freak out for the time being. Same thing goes for Sasuke learning a genjutsu seal-lessly (if that's even a word). Keep in mind that the technique is absolutely childish and useless against any ninja. He was rather stupid to try that against Naruto.

Anyway, many reviewers wondered which villain could challenge the superpowerful Naruto of this story. Will Pein be a worthy foe? Or Orochimaru? Maybe… I just want to tell you to remember _who_ is my Naruto's real opponent…

As for the blond being attracted to twelve-year-old girls… why shouldn't he? Should he stay chaste and pure forever, seeing as even an eighty-year-old hag would be like a baby for him? He has and will always have the urges of a boy and then a man, because that's what he is and will be. It's as simple as that.

And will this one be Naruto's last life? Some of you asked that. All I can say is that in this life, Naruto will come closer than ever before to achieve death. But will he die? Heh… I guess you'll just have to keep on reading to find it out…

As usual, a huge 'thank you' goes to Big Pája for correcting this chapter, but I'd also like to thank the anonymous reviewer Cen who signaled to me lots of mistakes in the first one.

Oh, just one more thing… I apologize for Ryuugi's Law! It's not my fault!

Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	7. Chapter 7 – Across the Board

Disclaimer – Don't own Naruto. Don't own his world. All I own is hangin' on my back.

Chapter 7 – Across the Board

"Takeru-sama, please tell us exactly what happened," Asuma says in his best soothing voice, trying to relax the distressed father enough to comprehend his frantic words. The man had started babbling as soon as Gai had asked his first question. While the client takes a deep calming breath, it's the thin man in the scarlet dress to answer.

"They came here when we were outside for business," he says gesturing with his hands, large sleeves flapping around wildly. "If the guards had actually _guarded_ Heiki-sama instead of doing who knows what, then this would have never happened!"

"Kugara," the security head says through gritted teeth, as the bodyguards all around grumble under their breath. "Don't you dare blaming my men. If you hadn't insisted so much on going to that meeting, every one of my guards would have been here to protect both Takeru-sama and the girl. If you weren't so greedy-"

"It was an important business contract, you ignorant brute!" the thin man, apparently Kugara, shouts reddening to purple. "If your good-for-nothing bodyguards weren't this inept, Yoroi, then-"

"Enough."

This single word, calmly spoken, stops the blame-game immediately, as part of what truly makes Maito Gai the Green Beast of Konoha surfaces in his voice. Silence falls for two good seconds, while Kugara squirms slightly under the cold eyes of the taijutsu master. When Gai turns towards Shintei Takeru, his expression is once again a reassuring one. "How many bandits attacked and where did they escape to?"

The little man shakes his head as if confused. "I don't know. Maybe fifteen or twenty. The few men stationed here couldn't tell," he says quietly. "It all happened very fast, less than an hour ago, but they were already far away by the time we came back here. We sent part of the guards to chase them, but they already were so much ahead..."

I frown a little as Heiki's father takes his head in his hands.

"Where to?" Gai repeats gently.

The client points towards the back of the manor. "They ran into the forest behind the house," he says weakly. "It's where Gaou lives."

"Gaou?" The question escapes my lips softly, but Takeru answers it anyway.

"Yes, he's the one who wants to stop me from signing that contract. He kidnapped my daughter." His voice cracks at the end as his eyes glisten. "Please, you have to save her from him. They say... they say he does things to little girls..."

Ino and Tenten shudder visibly at that, while the expression on Gai and strangely enough Shikamaru's face turns to murderous.

"Have there been other attempts since the failed one two days ago?" the Green Beast of Konoha asks.

"No," Takeru says wiping his eyes. "It was all quiet ever since what happened that morning..."

My interest is piqued by the strange tone of his words and the shudder that accompanies it. Gai doesn't miss a beat, of course. "What happened exactly?"

The little man shifts uncomfortably on his spot. "Well, Heiki was attacked on her carriage and..." He hesitates. "And the few bodyguards with her protected her with their lives."

"What else?" Gai presses on.

"Uhm... t-they killed..." he stammers before pausing and taking a deep breath."They killed many bandits during the fight. I mean, a lot." He coughs nervously as his eyes shift around as if searching for help.

"And?" Gai says impatiently. "Come on, Takeru-sama, the life of your daughter could depend on this."

Heiki's father stiffens visibly at that before finally meeting the Jounin's eyes.

"And they weren't just killed," he says very quietly. "They were torn to shreds. Mauled."

An eerie silence falls inside the circle of bodyguards as the words sink in. I can't say I'm surprised, but I admit I had hoped the situation wasn't so critical already.

"It probably was a group of vultures," the large security head, Yoroi, says trying to hide his nervousness. "It's not a big deal."

"Vultures?" Kugara repeats scornfully, fear in his shifty eyes. "Vultures only leave the carcasses of the bodies, eating the rest. And so do the mammal predators. But near that carriage..." He shudders in sync with Takeru without ending the sentence.

"And how did the girl - Heiki, right? - manage to escape?" Gai asks starting the conversation again.

"We don't know," Takeru says with shining eyes.

"She was in shock when my men and I found her outside the gates," Yoroi says. "And she didn't want to talk about it afterwards. She had even been hurt at the shoulder, but wouldn't tell us how."

I try to contain my resigned sigh as Asuma and Gai exchange a significant look.

"How many bodyguards did you send after the bandits?" the bearded Jounin asks lighting up another cigarette.

"Thirty of my best men are out there with the orders to not come back without the girl before midnight," the large bodyguard answers at once. "And though I didn't totally agree with the decision of sending this many for this kind of task," he adds tossing a sharp look to Kugara, "I'm not sure they'll be able to rescue the girl anyway."

Gai looks intently at him for a moment before nodding his head shortly. "We'll bring her back." He immediately turns on his heel and gestures for us to follow him. The sea of bodyguards parts in front of him and lets us pass to a more isolated place.

"Something's not quite right here," Asuma eventually says taking a long drag from his cigarette. Gai, Shikamaru, Neji and I all nod our heads in agreement at that.

"What?" Tenten asks grimly shifting her eyes to every one of us.

The bearded ninja blows out some smoke before speaking up again. "Don't know for sure. It seems like a setup, though."

"A setup?" Lee asks blinking confused.

"Yes," Gai agrees. "Whether for us or for the client I'm not sure, but maybe we're just too paranoid."

"Yeah," I scoff lightly. "It's not like this Kugara instills much reassurance. He has 'bad guy' written all over his villainous face."

I'm pleased even Neji snorted at my joke, but I understand it's not the time for it.

"Okay," Gai says cracking his knuckles. "The mission changed slightly due to the circumstances. We will split up. One team will go rescue the girl and the other one will stay here to see what exactly is going on. Now... who stays and who goes?"

Asuma shrugs. "With Naruto's Kage Bunshins, we could cover the whole area very quickly, and Shikamaru's clan techniques would almost assure that nothing bad happens to the little girl once we find her and the kidnappers."

"There's that," Gai agrees rubbing his chin. "But with our superior endurance and speed, not to mention Neji's Byakugan, we would probably find the girl more easily."

We exchange some thoughtful looks before Neji puts his two cents in.

"Team 10 should stay," he says looking impassively at his Sensei. "We need to move fast if we want to save the girl and they already slowed us down too much during the trip. With my eyes, it will be easier to spot the bandits and distinguish them from the client's bodyguards." His gaze shifts to us at this point. "Besides, I don't want to fail this mission because of your incapacity in battle, and considering we're not sure there will be a fight here, then you should stay."

Ino starts growling dangerously at that, but it's Shikamaru, of all people, to speak up.

"You can go run wherever you want and save whoever you like for all I care," the young Nara says pointing a pair of lazy eyes at the Hyuuga. "But I want to tell you something first," he adds as his eyes and jaw harden. "Stop being an asshole."

I refrain from snorting as Lee gasps next to me and Tenten holds her breath. Meanwhile, Neji's expression mirrors Shikamaru's. "Only if you stop pretending to be real ninjas."

"Hey you little-" Ino starts, being appropriately riled up, but Asuma blocks her.

"Relax, Ino," the Hokage's son says putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need for that. Besides, what Neji said is as close to the truth as you can get from him. And remember that we're the supporting team here." He hesitates before adding. "You too, Shikamaru."

"As I said," the young Nara comments not completely honestly and looking bored again, "I couldn't care less about that."

Ino grumbles some more before eventually settling for glaring at the Hyuuga as Asuma chuckles lightly, looking at Gai.

"I had forgotten how Genins usually interact with each other," he says amused. "It reminded me of a certain Green Beast and a Copycat of a long time ago."

The spandex-clad Jounin smiles nostalgically for a moment at the thought, but sobers up soon.

"I would be delighted to tell you all about my youthful rivalry with the cool Hatake Kakashi, but the life of a little girl is in danger," he says in a grim tone. "Does anyone want to object to what Neji said with his harsh and yet truthful words?"

I notice how some of my fellow Genins are darting their eyes in my direction, while my Sensei does nothing to conceal his curiosity as he stares expectantly at me.

I think it over for a long minute before answering. The decision is not as simple as they think. What Gai said is true. Shintei Heiki is in danger. But the thing the Jounin doesn't know is another.

Shintei Heiki is _a_ danger.

Not in herself, of course; the girl is as cute and harmless as a wet chick. It's just that the seal keeping the Demon Sparrow-Hawk sedated inside her is falling. It's always like that - the only thing to change being when - but it happens every single time. All it needs is for the girl to be distressed. Not 'dad doesn't want to buy me ice-cream!' distressed. More like 'I'm gonna die!' distressed. And I think the example applies perfectly here. The simple fact that these bandits were able to kidnap her today is surprising. She must have passed out somehow, because I doubt there would have been anyone alive here otherwise. The five-tails would have destroyed everything and everyone. That would also explain why I can't sense at the moment the simply huge chakra entity that the bijuu is.

So apparently the girl was unconscious when kidnapped and is currently as well. The seal is still up and functioning too, though I don't know how long that will last. When the deteriorating process of the seal starts, it is just a matter of time before the bijuu surfaces. He doesn't get free, fortunately. He just merges with the girl, completely taking control of her body and mind. That doesn't make him much less dangerous though.

I glance at Team Gai and can only shake my head slightly. They're not ready for it. Hell, I could be not ready for it! Well, not really, but it would be hard for sure.

Anyway, there are many things to take into consideration. Heiki's seal is gonna crumble soon and, although it would probably mean explaining lots of things to Asuma now and the Sandaime once back in Konoha, I'm the only person able to stop that. I could simply reapply it later, or even a better version of it, but there's the pesky problem of keeping the Sparrow-Hawk still and quiet while I do that. Of course, there's the possibility that the seal will last long enough for Team Gai to rescue the girl and bring her back here for me to tamper a little with her body and make it safe for us all without anyone being none the wiser... It seems it was just yesterday that it started to fall, after all. We could still have time...

Bah! Who am I kidding? This is all bullshit! I know what I have to ask myself right now and that has nothing to do with possibilities and time. 'How much do I value my teammates' lives?' That's the real question. Are they more important than keeping- no, than _risking_ my secret?

Yes, they are.

"Naruto?" Asuma asks me with his brow furrowed. "Do you want to say something instead of just sighing, shaking your head and frowning?"

I snort at him as I feel everyone's eyes on me. Refraining from shaking my head and sighing again, I finally speak up.

"Yes, I have something to say," I start seriously. Maybe if things had gone differently and we had arrived here earlier, before the kidnapping, then I could have acted more carefully, plan things ahead without jeopardizing my secret. But that wasn't to be, apparently. I just hope I won't regret this decision later. "I-"

At this point I have to stop, shocked at first, incredulous then, and amused finally. And this time, I really can't help myself from shaking my head.

"I can't believe it," I snort, a large grin appearing on my face. "Are you trying the Puppy-Dog Eyes no Jutsu on me?"

Everyone turns immediately towards Lee, finding him with huge, pleading eyes, bright with unshed tears.

"No?" he half-asks cautiously, blinking the expression away. "But... was it working?"

I chuckle lightly at that.

"No, seriously, Naruto-kun," he says quietly. "I..." he hesitates as his gaze lowers to the ground. When the boy looks up at me again, there's a determined light in his eyes. "This is our mission," he says quietly, and hearing the tone in his voice, my fellow teammates of Team 10 can finally understand what Gai means when he babbles about 'the Will of Fire'. "I know I shouldn't treat it like it - we're talking about saving a life after all, and that should be all that matters - but... I can't help it." He clenches his hands tightly, balling them into fists. "I want to test my skills with my first B-rank mission."

There's a moment of silence during which the others all seem to look in awe at his impressive show of resolution, until the spandex-clad boy ruins it all by assuming his infamous nice-guy pose.

"Besides, I want to battle and defeat Ryuugi's Law!" He laughs amused after a moment, his thumb still up. "Right, Naruto-kun?"

I give him a small smile as Tenten nods her head almost approvingly at the boy.

I was completely wrong, and it took someone like Rock Lee to make me realize that. The question to ask myself shouldn't have been 'How much do I value my teammates' lives'. Not at all. The real question is...

How much do I respect them?

Because that's what they - and everyone else for that matter - wants. Not that I save their lives, no.

That I respect them.

It's a sad smile playing on my lips as I look at them – Lee, Tenten and Neji - so young and yet so determined to jump into a dangerous situation.

'We're ninjas,' their eyes say. 'Don't underestimate us.'

Okay, Lee-kun. I won't.

"Alright, I agree," I say shrugging. "We'll stay here."

The boy just nods his head deeply at me, while Shikamaru frowns slightly.

"As usual," Neji says in a cold voice, "you just made us waste precious time."

I grin amusedly at him and that seems to irk him slightly, judging by the crease forming between his pale eyes.

"Time is always precious," I say wisely, though that doesn't really apply to me. I sigh slightly, turning serious again. "Anyway, I have a bad feeling about this," I say grimly. "Be careful."

I catch Gai's eyes trying to convey my worries without any more words, and from his part, the Green Beast of Konoha just tilts his head to the side before nodding briefly at me.

"We will."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Half an hour has already passed since Team Gai left the Shintei Manor to chase down the bandits, and now I'm even more certain that something fishy is going on here. I can't believe that Kugara is Takeru's business adviser. Someone with such awful acting skills surely can't be able to tell when a good liar is trying to swindle him... Anyway, the man is definitely hiding something and it isn't so big of a stretch to think he has a part in what is happening. His repeated looks at the clock and at the ashes beyond the iron fence are two telltale signs that he's impatiently expecting something.

Or someone.

I already caught Shikamaru's eyes long ago, right after I had caught Asuma's, and they all said the same thing: 'look out for any trouble.' Of the team, Ino seems the only one not suspecting anything, and that's what's bothering me at the moment. The little confrontation with Neji left her quite annoyed, and the delicacy of the mission is playing on her nerves. Add to that the empathy she feels for the distressed father crying in the yard, and you have a really worked up walking bomb in a young girl's body.

Only, instead of walking, Ino is pacing.

"Would you please stay still for a moment, Ino?" I say sitting down on the grass. "Come here."

She complies eventually, visibly restraining herself from snapping at me. She huffs irritated as she crosses her legs underneath her.

"Relax," I tell her. "Team Gai will find the girl and it'll all work out in the end."

"I know," she growls dangerously. "It's... it's all this tension," she admits frustrated. "It's almost like something is about to happen any time, but it never does! It's driving me crazy!"

I can't help but chuckle at her, despite the sharp look she tosses me. "Sorry, sorry," I apologize quickly, gesturing placatingly with my hands. "And don't worry too much about it. You'll get used to it. This kind of missions will become a routine eventually, though the thrill won't ever disappear completely." I shrug with a small smile. "You'll just learn to live with it."

I realize my mistake a second too late as I see Ino's glare bore into me for a brief second.

"Please Naruto," she grits through her teeth, closing her eyes in irritation. "Don't start it now. I'm not in the mood for it."

I just sigh quietly before standing up. This is an old argument between us Genins of Team 10, but I can clearly remember it from other past lives of mine. Every one of my teammates finds out there's something strange about me, eventually, and while not many of them confront me about it, some don't really seem to be able to accept my repeated refusal to answer. And I'm not talking about my furry prisoner here. That's not something I hide so jealously, really, simply because I know it rarely changes my relationship with teammates and friends if revealed in the right way, at the right time. But my real secret… that's just too big to not affect everything – and I really mean _everything_ – about me.

Ino and partially Shikamaru are definitely curious people by nature, but if it was just curiosity to drive them, then it wouldn't matter much, I could handle it easily. The problem is they think I don't trust them.

And they're right.

Call me a bastard, call me weak, call me whatever you want. I have no problem with saying I'm afraid to reveal my dirtiest secret to them because they are who they are.

That is to say human beings.

Well, there's a little clarification to make. They're _sane_ human beings. My stomach still churns every time I think about that life I talked about my traveling back in time to Orochimaru. I've never repeated that mistake and don't plan to do it again anytime soon. Twisted little bastard…

Anyway, Ino and Shikamaru are sane human beings, and there's no way some sane human beings would shrug that secret off, ignore it and continue treating me normally. They could never accept _what_ I am. No, that's not exactly right, because many people accepted me _countless_ times in the past. Even during this life, Ino and Shikamaru have accepted what I am. But that's because I didn't tell them. Seeing the truth is not the same thing as hearing it. And the latter is often harder than the former.

It's a rather complicated matter, but it gave me so much trouble in the past that my mind is completely made up now. The fact is this: I don't pretend to be something I'm not. Not really. Every one of us has much more facets than they show, or even _can_ show. I just act like myself with the people I consider my friends, without pretences of any sort. I'm just Uzumaki Naruto, nothing more, maybe a little less...

"Sorry, Ino," I say quietly, looking down at her face. My apology is really felt, and I think she knows that as she slowly opens her eyes and sighs softly. Our gazes meet for a moment and I can't help but smile sadly at the swirling of emotions I see in her blue orbs. Shikamaru's eyes are not so different either when I glance at them.

I manage to contain my tired sigh as I dust some invisible dirt from my orange trousers. I know there's a big wall between me and them, but if I revealed my secret now - _especially_ now - that wall would soon become an overwhelming gap. I know that. I know that very well...

Asuma clears his throat seriously, effectively attracting everyone's attention. "What Naruto said was true, Ino," he says in his deep voice. "And you don't have to worry. I would have never proposed our team for this mission, if I didn't know you were able to face its risks."

A low murmur resonates from behind Ino, and though I couldn't make out the words, the young Yamanaka clearly could, seeing as her head immediately snaps in Kugara's direction.

"What was that?" she hisses sharply at the thin man.

Takeru's adviser sneers at her, not even bothering to mask his scorn. "I said 'It's foolish to send little children to do a man's job.'" He raises a disdainful eyebrow at us. "I just hope nothing bad will happen to you."

His derisive words have a smug tone in them that makes me shake my head in disbelief. I can't remember this Kugara from any one of the lives I spent here with Heiki, and I hope the memory from this one will disappear from my mind soon, should this crap of traveling back in time continue any longer. I mean... how can he be such an idiot? All he needs now is to stroke his moustache with his fingers and burst out in villain-like laughter.

Ino just growls at him dangerously, before glancing suspiciously at Asuma. The Jounin's nod is almost imperceptible, but it's enough for Ino to finally realize that something is probably about to happen soon.

Make that immediately.

Sure enough, as if on cue a startled yell suddenly rises from the crumbled portion of the wall surrounding the property, followed by the clashing sounds of blade against blade and by human screams of rage.

"Naruto!" Asuma shouts at once, while Ino jumps up from her seated position. "Protect the client!"

"Consider it done," I reply licking my lips excitedly and nodding to a small group of Kage Bunshins just appeared around the frightened figure of Shintei Takeru. A second later, a strong explosion resonates from the iron gates, leaving in its wake a blurring cloud of dust and enraged and alarmed bodyguards who start drawing their weapons and circling the fence.

"Defend the hole in the wall!" the Hokage's son shouts at us amidst the chaos all around. He gives us a meaningful and somewhat measuring look before nodding his head seriously, the cigarette still dangling from the corner of his mouth. "Fight well."

The Jounin is already sprinting towards the fence when our forceful "Yes!" leave our lips, and he immediately starts barking orders to the seemingly disorganized bodyguards standing around, before engaging a large bandit just popped out of the dust. Needless to say, the enemy is down in less than a second.

"So..." I start, turning to my tense but charged up teammates, "what do you say, Shikamaru? Do you think it's too soon to try that?"

He smirks at me, though a tad nervously. "I think this is the right occasion to experiment with it a little," he says. "Ino?"

The girl just nods her head grimly, breathing slightly heavily already. Her wide eyes continue to shift wildly from us to the battle near the walls, and I'm reminded again of how much young and inexperienced she - and Shikamaru as well for that matter - is. That said, looking into her eyes, I'm also reminded of the great kunoichi I've come to know in pretty much every past life of mine.

As Shikamaru decisively takes the lead towards the nearest group of men fighting against each other, I slip right to his left, while Ino stays behind. When a bandit stumbles away from his downed enemy and starts facing us clasping a short sword, I hit him quickly on his left temple with the round end of my kunai, sending him to the ground without giving him the possibility to strike. I smile guiltily at Shikamaru who is giving me an annoyed glare.

"If you wanted to attack on you own, then you shouldn't have proposed the Board."

"Sorry," I reply sheepishly.

"Now…" he huffs, noticing the next bandit in front of us, a slim man with sandy blond hair and a dagger as weapon. "Let's start it simple." The young Nara performs the seals for the Kage Mane no Jutsu as his shadow starts twirling unnaturally around his feet. "Lance."

I quickly move out of the way when the boy's shadow surges forward, soon meeting the bandit and freezing him into place. At that point, it's far too easy for me to knock out the wide-eyed man with an expert use of my kunai. His head has still to touch the ground when Shikamaru takes a step forward in order to position himself right between two small groups of both bandits and bodyguards, and scrunches his expression up in concentration.

"Rook!"

This time around, the shadow shoots to both sides of Shikamaru as well as forward, and traps bandits and bodyguards alike like a large dark beam. After simply sidestepping the jutsu, I run rapidly to the left, drop three enemies and proceed to do the same on the other side, while Shikamaru's shadow slowly retreats back, freeing the startled bodyguards who can only stumble unsteadily and give us looks of disbelief.

I go back hovering around Shikamaru as the boy takes a deep breath before sprinting forward again, Ino in tow. We move past various groups of fighters, defeating some of them and ignoring others, under the orders of the young Nara. He is the one to make the calls, and we just have to follow his lead. That is how the Board works.

"Pawn! Silver!" Shikamaru shouts suddenly, rectifying his first order almost at once.

I had started my attack already, so I have to jump aside hurriedly to avoid being trapped as well. The large shadow rolls forward like a black wave of ink on a sheet of paper, making contact a second later with four enemies in front of us – which I knock out quickly – and two more behind. Unfortunately, Shikamaru couldn't block completely the surprising attack from behind, and a muscular bandit managed to escape his jutsu and charge at him extending his short blade. I am too far away to defend my teammate's helpless back, but that's exactly what the third member of Team 10 is here for.

There is a loud clang of steel as the man's and Ino's blades meet. The girl retracts her kunai quickly, her eyes as wide as they can get, while she moves to parry the next attack. She does it while blinking repeatedly in confusion.

"Slow…" she murmurs pushing the angry bandit back, making him fall to the ground. "Weak…"

I can't help but grin wolfishly as I hit the downed man in the head, having dispatched the last two trapped bandits already.

"Piece of cake, right Ino?" I tell the bewildered girl. "Good to know Shika has someone to watch his back when he slips like that."

The dazed Yamanaka manages a small smile, while the boy just huffs annoyed, wiping sweat off his forehead. "We ideated the Board like that for a reason, didn't we?"

"Yeah," I reply yanking a nearby bodyguard out of the way of a bandit's sword, before kicking said bandit in the nose and eliciting a quite satisfying crunch from the now unmoving man. "You know that if we had been training against my Kage Bunshins as always, we would be all tied up and laughed at now, right?" I chuckle at the thought, while pumping a bit of chakra in my legs to slip easily inside another bandit's guard and punching him under his chin.

"This is different," he says rolling his eyes. "With all these enemies and allies, it's more like playing Go than Shogi." He punches a wandering bandit in the stomach as if to make a point.

"What?" I tease him with an amused smirk, knocking that same bandit out cold with the ring of my kunai. "Too many pieces on the _board_ for the lazy Nara Shikamaru to play with?"

"Stop fooling around!" Ino grunts, neatly dodging a spear-thrust and striking a large bandit on his chest with her small palm. It's a funny sight to see a little girl such as Ino launch a tall and muscular man off his feet. "This is serious!"

I laugh at her – earning myself an angry glare – and at how confident and comfortable she looks now. All it took was finding out what's the physical difference between a common fighter and a ninja, no matter the size and age. Chakra really is a magical thing.

"Rested enough?" I ask Shikamaru, elbowing a resilient bandit away while punching another one. "You up for a little more of Board?"

He answers the question after his flying kick has landed on the head of his enemy, which promptly passes out after looking around dazedly for a moment.

"Think so."

He takes a deep breath before going over the seals of his Kage Mane no Jutsu and a second later, his shadow starts swirling at his feet, stretching and slithering in fascinating movements.

"Knight!" he shouts loudly, and our special game of Shogi resumes.

We go on for a little while in a blur of fighting that makes my blood quiver in excitement and my teeth flash between my lips. Ino and Shikamaru's expressions, though, are very different from mine. The boy seems almost sickened as he traps the umpteenth bandit with his jutsu, while the young blonde's face has gone from horrified to angry, to finally detached after seeing countless of bodies and blood. To think that such a messy battle will be their first real ninja experience... it could be as much a blessing as a curse later on. Needless to say, I will do my best to stop it from becoming the latter.

Screams of pain and anger are resonating from all around now, and an acrid stink of explosives and blood is starting to drift through the Shintei Manor, making the bastard inside me howl in laughter at the destruction and death. He's not a young, inexperienced Genin like _us_, after all...

'_That's it!_' he shouts cackling madly. '_That's exactly it!_'

I ignore him entirely, concentrating on downing another batch of bandits frozen by Shikamaru's jutsu. It's not as easy as it can appear at first. I'm not just going around and hitting in the head harmless men trapped by my teammate's shadow. The task is far more complicated than that. First of all, I have to know at all times Shikamaru's exact position, and I'm not just talking about where he is; where he's facing is at least as much important. Then I have to pay extra attention to his directives and act accordingly to try and drop the targets as soon as possible while following a precise strategy. And last but not least, I have to avoid being trapped myself by his swirling shadow. That's probably the most difficult task of the Board for me. The Kage Mane no Jutsu is very hard to follow all by itself already, but if you also add that the targets usually don't stay still when they see this eerie shadow moving towards them and _chasing_ them, but they start running away from it, it should be easily understandable how much of a headache it can become.

That said, my role in the Board is probably the easiest of the three. Or maybe that's Ino's. It's debatable, I think. After all, all Ino has to do is to fight whoever escapes Shikamaru's jutsu and tries to attack him. Well, she also has to pay attention to the freezing shadow and try to avoid being frozen herself, but there's a really marginal possibility for that to happen, because it's very rare that Shikamaru sends his jutsu right behind his position, and that's exactly where Ino has to stand, usually. Anyway, what the girl does that I don't is... actually fighting. Because, much to the Kyuubi's irritation, I don't fight anyone; all I do is hit unmoving targets.

'_Go for it! Go for it!_' the Demon shouts at me as I - or should I say 'we'? - look at a pair of agile-looking bandits teaming up against a lonely bodyguard and effectively overwhelming him. I assist at the scene from a couple of feet of distance without doing anything, and when the two start attacking another nearby bodyguard, the Kyuubi snarls in anger. '_What the fuck are you doing? Attack! Kill those weaklings! Kill them!_'

'_Oh, shut up,_' I reply rolling my eyes. '_The boss is Shikamaru at the moment. Leave the decision-making to him._'

He growls dangerously at me, otherwise staying quiet, while I take care of a couple of men frozen in front of us with an expert use of my kunai.

'_Use the sharp end, at least!_' the Demon Fox whines childishly as my enemies drop to the ground, unconscious. '_I wanna see blood!_'

I almost burst out laughing at him, but eventually settle for rolling my eyes again. '_I have no reason to kill them if I can help it._' I knock out another bandit while smiling slightly. '_You should know that_.'

The Kyuubi sighs almost exasperatedly after an instant of silence.

'_I can't wait for you to go back to be a murderous bastard again,_' he says evidently displeased. '_I miss those times..._'

Sensing his somewhat depressed state, I decide to indulge him a little in my next attack. I hope he appreciates my thought as my kunai dips slightly into the target's neck, finally drawing blood. It's not a fatal wound by any means - and the bandit probably didn't feel it either considering he had already passed out from the previous blow to the head - but it's enough for the Kyuubi to start chuckling amusedly, part of his normal demeanor re-established.

'_You're welcome, bastard,_' I say shaking my head slowly, knowing that he would never thank me.

"Stay as one! As one! Bushi! Take Wasida with you and help defend the side, hurry! Go!"

The security head, Yoroi, is shouting like a madman, furiously inciting his men dressed in black and battling the enemy. He has assembled a dozen of bodyguards around him and he's directing them with extreme efficiency. It appears clear that he has training and experience on his heavy-built shoulders, and the small but well-organized group of men surrounding him is an evident proof of it. When two of them – most certainly Bushi and Wasida – move away from the formation and run up to the chaotic-looking left side, the hole they leave is immediately refilled under Yoroi's barking orders. The large man's clothes – once pitch black like his men's – now are more similar to Kugara's crimson vest, as blood is splattered all over them together with mud and grass. When he finally notices our presence, his focused eyes look uncertainly at us before narrowing.

"What the hell are they doing here, Kusano?" he shouts at one of the nearby bodyguards. "Get them somewhere safe!"

Shikamaru doesn't pay any attention to him, and I barely contain my snort, while not even bothering to hide my wide grin. Ino is watching the man's clothes with a dangerously expressionless face, but she follows the young Nara closely without missing a beat. We're running through a fairly large portion of the garden that seems completely untouched by blood and death, and I slowly come to a halt, effectively stopping my teammates. I look impressed at the security head, at his men and at the scuttling line of the enemy, taking the battleground in… if it even can be called that. It's like no battle has been fought here on this immaculate plot of land. Apparently, Yoroi's small group managed to stop the largest wave of bandits from moving on, and the lonely ones able to get past them weren't brave, foolish or organized enough to attack from behind. That's quite impressive considering this was such a chaotic fight.

As an old-looking bodyguard approaches us, I turn around towards Shikamaru.

"How are you?" I ask him, knowing the answer already.

The boy grimaces at me, but then nods his head. "Ready." He glances at Ino who still looks uncharacteristically expressionless. "We'll go with the easiest. I'm not completely confident with the others yet."

"Okay," I agree shrugging, before gesturing to the reorganizing bandits. "Lead the way."

As the young Nara does just that, I create a Kage Bunshin right in front of the dashing bodyguard, startling him badly. He reacts instinctively by raising his long katana and thrusting it forward, but the clone just twists sideways avoiding the blow. I can't see the rest of the scene as Shikamaru is finally starting our final Shogi attack, but I can easily imagine it.

"Now, now," my clone is probably saying at the moment, disarming the old bodyguard easily. "Leave the rest of the battle to us. We're gonna end this fight soon." Under the man's scowl, the Kage Bunshin will definitely grin. "Tell your fellow bodyguards to stand aside and watch what three Genins of Konoha are capable of."

I have instructed him to say something cocky, after all.

So... that's probably what is happening, while I run forward, right in the direction of the assembled bandits near the crumbled portion of the wall, flanked by my young teammates. I ignore the cries of shock and warning coming from Yoroi's line of defense as I pump a bit of chakra into my legs and jump directly in the midst of the enemies, landing nimbly barely a second later than Shikamaru and Ino. I ponder the idea of saying something to the startled men looking at us with their mouths open, but in the end decide it is unnecessary. We've already impressed them enough, I think. Impressed them too much, even, considering their frozen state.

"Uhm..." I murmur perplexed. "Shouldn't you...say, attack us?"

My words seem to shake them from their shock, but as the nearest bandit makes a move in my direction, Shikamaru's voice roars defiantly and yet tiredly from my right.

"KING!"

It takes a little longer than normal - meaning one or two seconds - but then the familiar feeling of helpless immobility envelops me like a cold blanket. I fight the uncomfortable sensation instinctively, tensing my muscles and willing my body to respond, despite knowing it's of no use. I'm effectively trapped under the Kage Mane no Jutsu.

Just like everyone standing ten feet from me.

I look fascinated at the horrified terror slowly filling the eyes of the men surrounding me, and at the farthest ones stopped in their tracks while trying to run away, having realized what was happening. It's an odd sight, incredibly eerie and very unnatural. It's like the whole world has stopped. Nothing in my field of vision is moving barred the grey dust drifting left and right under the gentle breeze. Silence reigns around for a long minute before the screams start.

"I can't move!"

"What the fuck is happening?"

"Help me!"

I listen to the cacophony of enraged, frightened and confused shouts as I wait as patiently as I can for Shikamaru to free me. He does it eventually, and the feeling of cold and helplessness is washed away as the boy's shadow retreats from me. I don't waste any time as I immediately start to make quick work of all the bandits, starting from my left. The young Nara has already used a lot of his chakra, and even though the 'King' move is the easiest of all the _grand finale _of our Board, I don't think he can last much longer. I swiftly knock out the bandits on my path, paying extra attention to Shikamaru's shadow and eventually deciding that he's even more at his limits than I thought. His clan jutsu is getting a little shaky and his timing less precise as I start to drop the last batch of enemies around us. I'm still impressed, of course. What he managed to do in the last few months has gone way beyond what a Genin should be capable of. What the young Nara does during the Board is something definitely deserving Chuunin status. The simple _awareness_ he demonstrates in our game of sorts is nothing short of outstanding. His control over the Kage Mane no Jutsu is almost perfect, and that's probably the hardest part of his role in the Board. Catching numerous moving targets at once is extremely trying, and withdrawing his shadow right before I hit them to avoid taking the hit himself is doubly so. Sure, we previously decided what attacking pattern I had to follow, but that made it just a touch less difficult. And finally, even his endurance and chakra reserves have increased very noticeably in these last few months thanks to all our training against my Kage Bunshins, and though I have to actually fight the last three bandits together with Ino because he's too tired to keep them trapped, I know he wouldn't have lasted half what he did today just a month ago.

"Sorry," he pants out as the last bandit drops to the ground. "Couldn't... any longer..."

I chuckle lightly in seeing his exhausted and sweaty face. "I hope you won't have to say that too often in your life... especially in bed."

I skip back to him as he rolls his eyes, breathing heavily. Ino is looking around at the dozens of unconscious bandits lying still, and she's as tense as if those men were readying their weapons against her. I put my hand on her shoulder and she startles badly, turning towards me. My reassuring smile is all for her, but it doesn't get much of a reaction from the young Yamanaka except for a slight relaxing of her stance.

"Come on. Let's check on Asuma-sensei. You know he's hopeless without us," I say gently. "It seems the battle has quieted down near the fence too."

She nods her head and follows me away from the downed bandits, while Yoroi and his men start to make sure they won't go anywhere anytime soon. I ignore their stares in our direction and lead my teammates to where I can feel the chakra signature of the Hokage's son. We find him still barking orders to the remaining bodyguards as they help the wounded and apprehend the enemy. A relieved sigh immediately escapes his lips upon seeing our safe - though bloody - figures and he meets us down the road with a small smile.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You were working for Gaou all this time?" the plump Shintei Takeru is saying, trembling from head to toe. He's looking into the bloodshot eyes of his business adviser with stunned incredulity.

"He pays better than you!" Kugara screams, thrashing wildly despite the tight ropes retraining him.

"But-but-but... we are friends," Heiki's father stammers taking a step back.

"The fuck we are, you poltroon idiot!" the tied-up man shouts before bursting out into hysterical laughter. "Give me my knife back and I'll open you up to search for your missing spine for you!"

Takeru-sama actually falls to the ground at that, shaking his head repeatedly and mumbling under his breath. Asuma crouches to his side and murmurs soothing words in his ear, while silencing the mad Kugara with a dangerous look. My Kage Bunshins had blocked him easily as he attempted to stab the client in his back during the confusion of the battle. He didn't think the clones of a _child_ could punch just that hard.

I'm not paying much attention to him now, anyway, too busy keeping a worried eye out for everything around us. Shikamaru is lying on his back, resting a little after his extensive use of the Kage Mane no Jutsu. His gaze is inevitably pointed to the few clouds flying through the clear sky at a great speed, but I already caught him looking at Ino a couple of times. As for the Yamanaka girl, she's sitting under a just bloomed cherry-tree with her eyes closed, a look of deep concentration on her pretty face. I too - like the young Nara - look for any sign of tiredness on her, but don't find any. It's been almost ten minutes now that she's using the Shintenshin no Jutsu to search the nearby area for Team Gai and/or Heiki, but if she still has to come out of the bird she has temporarily took as a host, then it means she has yet to find them. I avert my eyes from her as well and glance in the direction of the assembled bodyguards, or at least those alive and well. They're glaring at Kugara with pained, hateful eyes, and I can clearly see how some of them would make a move against him if not for our guarding presence here. Many of them lost friends, some even family, during the battle, and Takeru's former adviser can be easily considered at fault for it. But it's not them I am worried about.

It's Yoroi.

The security head is hiding something, and he's doing a far better job at it than that fool Kugara had. He just assisted without uttering a single word as Asuma questioned the thin man, soon finding out the truth. He seemed really surprised when we discovered Kugara was on Takeru's rival's pay-book since a couple of weeks ago, and he was genuinely angry at the man when we found out he had set the kidnapping of Heiki just to leave Takeru less protected. The adviser's idea of sending so many bodyguards after her and the bandits had made much more sense to him at that point, that he said he couldn't believe he hadn't started to suspect anything right there and then.

So... his reactions seemed completely comprehensible and normal, absolutely honest considering all that happened, but there is something in him that isn't quite right. It's the fact that he also seems relieved, I think. That really wouldn't make much sense if there wasn't something else going on. Eleven of his men are dead, twenty-eight are wounded, some more seriously than others, and Heiki has yet to be saved. The simple fact that Kugara won't see the sunlight for a while or maybe forever can't really explain his relief, even considering how much he hated the thin man.

No, he's hiding something, I'm sure of it.

I turn slowly towards Asuma and after some seconds, I finally catch his eyes. I make sure he sees my brief nod before approaching the security head, who is standing on guard right beside a now gagged Kugara.

"I want to know what is happening here," I say in my most serious voice. It's not threatening, that's not my intention at the moment.

Yoroi turns in my direction at once, calm at first as he glances down at Kugara, more guarded a second later when he notices I'm not talking to the tied-up man.

"What are you talking about?" he asks sharply.

"I'm talking about you," I reply immediately, feeling Asuma stepping up behind me. "You're hiding something and I want to know what."

I state this very matter-of-factly and his eyes widen a little before appearing confused and skeptic again. He looks at me as if I was a little kid... really.

"I don't know what you're babbling about, brat." He straightens up, towering over me in his impressively bloody clothes. "Why you are even here is beyond my understanding. Do you really think yourself a ninja?"

"I'm paid to be here as much as you are," I say quietly. "This is my job and you're hampering it. Now tell me what you're hiding."

A flash of anger covers the panic in his eyes a second too late. Now Asuma too knows the man knows something.

"I won't stand here listening to this stupid blond speaking nonsense against me," Yoroi growls dangerously, looking at my Sensei. The bodyguards nearby start drifting closer. "You better keep him quiet or I'll have to do that myself."

I sigh a little, closing my eyes for a moment. When I open them again, they're not just serious anymore. They are threatening.

"Do you see the girl sitting over there?" I ask the security head while pointing at Ino. "She's a member of a clan famous for getting inside others' bodies and minds. She can take a look at your thoughts and memories like you were a book in just a few seconds." _Technically_, I add to myself. She's not quite that skilled yet, but Yoroi doesn't have to know it, of course. I sense Shikamaru joining Asuma behind me as I press on. "And she's not the only one with nice jutsus. I can do much more than copies of myself; the lazy boy here," I point my thumb in the young Nara's direction, "isn't a one-trick pony either, and you can't even start to imagine what a Jounin like Asuma-sensei is capable of. So..." I take a step forward and enjoy for a moment the sight of Kugara wriggling his way away from me. "I think it's better if you talk now on your own before we _make_ you."

I stare hard into the security head's face and am partly impressed and partly disappointed that he's managing to keep a perfectly blank face. When I start to think that things might very well get ugly before he starts singing for us, his eyes shine more brightly for a moment. A scene, incredibly vivid and at the same time vague, flashes in Yoroi's gray pupils until he blinks them closed and then open again. It was just an instant but it was enough. Now I have a much better idea of what he could be hiding.

That wouldn't be of much help either, if Kugara, of all people, didn't speak. Or tried to, anyway.

I narrow my eyes at the large bodyguard, while Asuma crouches down and frees Takeru's former adviser from his gag.

"He sent a falcon!" the thin man shouts at once, a victorious smile playing on his smug face. "He sent a falcon to someone in secret, soon after the attack on the girl! And he put a strange seal on it with a-"

"Shut up!"

When his strong kick hits Kugara's side, making him roll over, gasping in shock and coughing out blood, Yoroi lets out a furious snarl, looking down at the suffering fool. He then lets out a tired, calming sigh, before turning towards me again. The bitter smile on his face suits perfectly his scarred appearance. He looks at his boss, who had approached all the ruckus again in the meantime, and then lowers his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Takeru-sama," he says in a voice barely above a whisper. "Your daughter isn't coming back."

"W-what?" the man stammers out, fear widening his watering eyes.

The security head remains silent for a long moment before looking away. "I'm sorry."

"Who did you send that falcon to?" Asuma asks firmly, attracting his attention for just a moment, but the large man doesn't seem intent on saying anything.

"ANSWER HIM!"

Yoroi's gaze snaps up and upon his boss in hearing his angry voice. Takeru's eyes are hard and determined as they bore into his man like a sharp knife, and the surprise on the latter is evident on his scarred face. He probably never saw such a demonstration of power from the plump, gentle merchant in the past, but he seems almost approving for a moment before he straightens up visibly.

"I sent it to the Village of the Dew," he replies turning to Asuma again.

There is a brief pause in which the Jounin visibly ponders the answer before nodding. "What did the message say?"

"It said," Yoroi stated, "that Shintei Heiki is a jinchuuriki."

A stunned and confused silence greets this revelation. Asuma just shoots a glance at me once under Shikamaru's watchful gaze.

"A jinchuuriki?" Takeru-sama asks puzzled. "What does that mean?"

It's the young Nara who answers. "A jinchuuriki is the human host of a bijuu." The boy looks at me first before turning towards the client again. "It means that a demon was sealed inside your daughter."

The plump merchant blanches like a ghost at the explanation, looking lost as he mumbles under his breath. "My little girl... a demon? Impossible!"

"She's not a demon," Shikamaru replies with as much a straight face as mine. "She's just its jailor. They're two perfectly separate entities."

Shintei Takeru just shakes his head repeatedly at that, as if to clear it from that information. "It doesn't matter," he murmurs quietly before repeating it more assuredly. "It doesn't matter. I want her back."

We all turn again towards Yoroi and Asuma steps up again, taking the easiest route.

"Explain," he demands simply.

The security head looks at Takeru once more, but his demeanor now is evidently changed. Yoroi answers as if he has just been asked to make a report.

"I'm from Tsuyugakure," he starts looking right in front of him. "It's not a recognized Village like yours but it's big and brave enough to be considered one. Our leader is one of the strongest ninjas ever, our base of Genins and Chuunins is incredibly large and powerful, and though they aren't many, our Jounins are very skilled as well. What we need," he pauses to stare at Asuma, "is a jinchuuriki."

"Bastard," Kugara manages to gasp out, his coughing fit finally ended. He flinches under Yoroi's disgusted gaze, wriggling his way away from him as well.

"Konoha, Kumo, Suna. They are the strongest Shinobi Villages in the world," the security head resumes. "And there's just one thing they have that we don't. A jinchuuriki."

I look blankly at him, not very impressed by his opinion. "Cut it short," I say coldly.

He doesn't even glance at me as he nods affirmatively.

"When I found little Heiki outside the property after the attack that killed four of my best men, it was impossible not to notice the _singular_ seal on her broken shoulder. It was also impossible not to find something odd in how quickly that same shoulder healed. It was back to normal in a couple of hours." He shrugs slightly at that. "I didn't even get to Genin back when I lived in the Village - I simply wasn't gifted enough - but even I knew what a jinchuuriki was and I'm sure Heiki is one." He finally breaks his stance to turn in his boss' direction. "So I told my Village to come and get her. A team of Jounins should have her at the moment. I told them I would make arrangements to let them sneak easily inside the house and take her quietly, but this snake," he stops long enough to glare down at Kugara, "this snake changed everything by betraying you. Now they have probably slaughtered Gaou's men and taken her. I'm sorry Takeru-sama."

"After all these years..." the client all but whispers. "After all these years, you stab me in the back like this." His gaze shifts for a moment to Kugara before quickly going back to Yoroi. "You too... I can't believe it..."

The large man struggles with his next words as he bears Takeru's disappointed eyes. "I... I would never have betrayed you."

"You did!" Heiki's father shouts angrily.

"I'm just still loyal to my Village."

"Does that justify you?" The plump man takes a daring step forward, his indecision and fear completely gone from his very being. "If my daughter dies, I'll kill you with my own hands!" he hisses.

"They won't kill her," he says quietly, looking away. "They'll train her."

"If she lets them," I say expressionless. "If she doesn't, they'll extract the bijuu, which will kill her."

Yoroi's eyes stay fixed on the ground. "Yeah."

Shintei Takeru seems almost sickened as he utters his next words. "Men, arrest him."

At first, no one moves from his spot, and I'm pondering the idea of tying the man up on my own when something surprising happens.

"What are you doing, idiots? Arrest me!" Yoroi orders them furiously. "Didn't you hear the boss? What have I been teaching you all these years?"

A large, very old-looking bodyguard finally approaches him, his face set into a grim expression. He takes a grip of the man's forearms and brings them behind his back. A second bodyguard produces some steel manacles and Yoroi is eventually secured. He gives them all a fierce look before staring again right in front of him.

It's a sobering sight. All these huge men almost in tears as they are forced to apprehend their leader and probably mentor. I don't know and can't remember anything about these people from my past lives, but it's clear that what is going on right now is very important to them. I scan their sad faces and they only remind me that I'm not the center of the world. There is so much – both good and bad – going on everywhere that we're all simply risible when we think we're the only ones important. Hopefully, tomorrow my team and I will leave this place and won't think ever again about these men we left behind and about how their whole world changed this day.

That's how much selfish we all are. Nothing matters but us.

We remain in silence for a long moment, Takeru still glaring at his former right and left hands, the bodyguards looking depressed and upset all around, and Ino still concentrated on her jutsu. Then Asuma speaks up, turning towards me and Shikamaru and taking the situation under his control.

"Our first priority now is to go find the little girl and Team Gai," he says dead-serious. "This mission now potentially became an A-rank." He scans our expressions for a brief moment before nodding. "Takeru-sama," he resumes turning towards the client, "we'll do our best to bring your daughter back to you. Please stay put here and you should be safe. Naruto..."

I don't even let him say it as I create twenty-five Kage Bunshins spread around the Shintei Manor. I look at the bodyguards nearby seriously. "Just a measure to discourage anyone from making trouble."

"They won't," Yoroi says with certainty, looking at us.

I nod at him before turning towards Asuma again.

"So, where do we start, Sensei?"

As if on cue, Ino gasps loudly from her seated position under the cherry-tree, opening her eyes.

"Found them. They have the girl, but..." she says, taking a deep breath and looking at us with concern. "They're in trouble. Ninjas, strong ones, I think."

I curse internally, while the Kyuubi sighs contentedly.

'_Finally,_' he murmurs.

I ignore him as I help Ino up. Shikamaru flanks us a moment later, a studied bored expression on his face. I smile at the sight, while the young Yamanaka growls dangerously.

Asuma was right. We are predictable alright.

The Hokage's son takes a long drag from his cigarette before putting it out under his foot. He looks at it for a short moment before raising his gaze again, an excited glint in his eyes.

"Let's go."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Thank you for reading this. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm not entirely satisfied with it – again – but couldn't find in me the will to improve it more than I already did. I swear it, if I start rereading it again, I'll surely spot something else I don't like or something I should add!

Anyway… the next chapter will be where the real action takes place. I've already written most of the battle scene, but the rest is still just in my mind. I only hope it won't stay there too long. Tsuyugakure is a Village of my invention. You'll know something more about it in the next chapter(s). I wasted a whole afternoon thinking of a name, but in the end the dew won the final coin-flip. I'm happy with it.

As to answer some anonymous reviewers, I disagree with those questioning my decision of writing the story from a first-person point of view. My reasoning is simple, really. My Naruto wouldn't have worked in any other way. I know it even without trying.

Now let's all thank Big Pája for making this chapter readable. He'll take a bow.

Uncle Stojil


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